If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. The Mexican American designer puts that philosophy into practice with “El Puente Eterno,” Tequila Don Julio’s new Día de Muertos campaign. Chavarria stepped behind the camera to direct a short film for the spot, inspired by the symbolic pathway of cempasúchil flowers believed to guide loved ones home during the holiday.
The film centers on Don Julio’s latest 70 Añejo Cristalino Artist Edition bottle, designed by Mexican designer Patricio Campillo, and brings together a largely Mexican and Mexican American creative team. The bottle will make its public debut Sept. 13 during Campillo’s Spring 2027 New York Fashion Week show. For Chavarria, who previously designed two Artist Edition bottles for Don Julio, the project marks another step toward expanding his namesake label beyond clothing.
That expansion is especially visible this Fashion Week. Chavarria is coming off the launch of his first UGG collaboration, accompanied by the starry “UGG & KISSES” campaign featuring Becky G, Eva Longoria, Danny Trejo and Ivan Cornejo, and was recently nominated for the CFDA’s American Menswear Designer of the Year award. I cannot tell you,” he says of the prestigious nomination.
Below, Chavarria talks to Variety about his new Don Julio campaign, championing Campillo , his ambitions in filmmaking — and why Pamela Anderson is next on his dream-dressing list. It was a slower progression because Don Julio and I have been working together for so long. They’ve been really involved in all of our celebratory events and runway shows and key cultural events with our brand.
So it was a very natural evolution to take it to the next level. This time we thought it would be really amazing for us to not just celebrate Willy Chavarria, but to bring in another Mexican creative and highlight a new, up-and-coming fashion brand and give Campillo exposure, while I could really be on the back end in the creative process and create the Don Julio world through a new lens. We all had a great time on this campaign.
I’ve been a fan of his for a while, and we became friends both when he started showing in New York and when I started spending more time in Mexico. So I’ve really been a champion for him. I thought it would be amazing for Don Julio and me to partner on this and bring him into the bottle design and let him tell the story of Día de los Muertos, which is so incredibly tied to Don Julio and this tequila and this season, from the perspective of another Mexican designer.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
