The Mexican-American designer Willy Chavarría presented his fashion show last Friday, showcasing his renowned work focused on migrant and Chicano identity. Photo: WWD/Getty Images
Guacamaya, July 2, 2025. Paris Fashion Week, one of the world’s “big four” fashion weeks, became this time a stage for political and social protest. The Mexican-American designer Willy Chavarría presented a show that evoked the situation of Venezuelans detained in the Salvadoran megaprison CECOT, an event that sparked immediate reactions from Presidents Nayib Bukele and Nicolás Maduro.
In the men’s spring/summer 2026 runway program, held from June 24 to 29, Chavarría showcased his “HURON” collection with 35 tattooed, shaved-headed men who walked the runway kneeling, dressed in white t-shirts and shorts. The performance aimed to highlight the plight faced by more than two hundred Venezuelans deported by the United States to El Salvador.
The Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, promptly responded to the controversy. In an ironic tone, the leader posted on X: “We are ready to send them to Paris as soon as we get the green light from the French government,” clearly referring to the inmates of the CECOT. He also accused Paris Fashion Week of “glorifying criminality,” emphasizing that “He who pardons the wolf sacrifices the sheep.”
Meanwhile, Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro praised the artistic representation and its reach. “At a famous Paris fashion show, the designer dared to simulate the horrific images of Nayib Bukele’s concentration camps in El Salvador. Millions of people in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America saw it,” he said Monday on his TV program Con Maduro+.
On June 24, it marked 100 days since at least 238 Venezuelans have remained detained in the CECOT, accused of belonging to the criminal gang Tren de Aragua, without evidence or ongoing judicial proceedings. The show was held in collaboration with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), reinforcing its social and political denunciation character.
