Helmut Lang As Seen By Jeremy Deller

And why is that? Brooklyn-based designer of Chavarri, Sophia Martinez, pours herself into everything that she creates and does so with meaning and purpose. The dichotomic balance that is Chavarri is hardcore, yet soft. Heavenly, yet coy. However, her brand is more than just the clothes that she makes. It’s a crafted timeline of who she is, the struggles she has faced in her life, and an homage to her Mexican roots. Honoring those who have come before her, and the legacy that she will leave behind.

Let's jump right into it. How are you doing today? What's your headspace like?

I was just telling my boyfriend last night that I feel like us women, we think about so much ahead of time. You know, I'm already thinking about the next collection and what to do. I'm also thinking about all my school projects that are due on Tuesday and Thursday. But it's not like a bad overwhelmed, it's a good overwhelmed, because I feel like during COVID, I had no purpose because I was doing nothing, I was stuck at home. So I'm kind of grateful to be overwhelmed right now.

It's like you're tackling so many different things at once and you could totally just let it overwhelm you to where you shut down. But instead, you just keep pushing through. Let's talk about your design process. Where do you get your inspiration from?

So I feel like my inspiration is like layers of times in my life. From traumatic experiences, to times where I was in love with this crazy guy, like lustfull experiences, and just reflecting back on all of that, and why it was. I've changed a lot since those times, and I think that's what I put into my collection as far as feelings of melancholy. It's why I use the blue filter a lot, because I feel like it really reflects who I am as a designer, because yes, I use lace, light colors, and soft fabrics. But there's a sadness to it and a seriousness to it, as well. I don't want it to be super girly and happy, I want it to be soft and sad, in a way. And I hope that I reflect that. I don't really expect everybody to understand because it's kind of like an art process for everybody to interpret. But with my plushies items, that reminded me of my childhood. This is actually a way for me to heal my inner child and despite my age, I just feel like it was necessary for me to grow in that way and to accept myself. Regardless of all the time that's passed.

I'm just really resonating with what you were saying about buying the plushies and using this as a form of therapy to heal that inner child of yours.

Yeah, it's some innocence. I was rushing to grow up and I guess be accepted in a way by the male gaze or whatever. And I remember I had so many plushies my mom had to give all of them away. And I forgot about them and stopped caring about them.

Where does Chavarri come from? 

So that's my mom's maiden name. I grew up with a really big family. My mom has seven brothers and sisters and my dad has six brothers and sisters. All of them have the last name Chavarri and my grandfather recently passed from COVID. He was like the glue of the family because he was kind and, you know, didn't talk as much, but my grandma's like the total opposite. She's very controlling and loud and opinionated. So he was the head that made everything okay, and worth coming for. He was a musician in Guatemala and he was pretty famous. He went on tour in Central America, like way back in the 70s and 80s and stuff, before they took my mom and all her brothers and sisters to the United States. My mom is telling me that we come from a long lineage of artists. So I just want to pay tribute to my lineage, even though like, there are a bunch of toxic motherfuckers but it's more keeping us alive in a way. I feel like I'm not a fan of the fact that there's so many white designers. So I love, you know, the designer Barragan. So I interned for him and I loved everything about his spirit, because he's Mexican, and I'm Mexican, and Guatemalan. So I never lived in Mexico, but I would ask him, like, how it was living there and does he miss it? How it is to be a gay man in Mexico? Him using his last name made me want to use my last name. We have to remember who we are and put our name into the fashion industry with our history of people of color, you know?

My family's from Ecuador so everything is very familiar, bringing it back to your roots, and paying homage to your ancestors. So it's really nice to see that despite those feelings of loneliness and that melancholy in your own life experience, you're really taking all of this right now and pouring it back into your art. 

I want to do it for people of color, you know?

100%. You use the term, "take a deep breath" frequently in your work. Why does this mantra resonate with you so much?

I think I used to have mostly depression, but lately, I would say it's shifted into anxiety. Thinking about the past too much, thinking about the future too much, and letting it consume you. But what helps me is to literally close my eyes, and take a deep breath, to recenter myself and be in the moment. I think that it's very important to focus on your breath. So I like to put that as a reminder for other people.

It's really nice to see how intentional you are with your designs and that every piece has that deeper meaning behind it.

Exactly. I want to make things with purpose and intention, you know, not just aesthetically pleasing. I think everything that's in existence should serve a purpose... Issey Miyake is one of my greatest inspirations and his motto was to make clothing with purpose that people could wear in different ways and treasure. And that's literally what I want to do. 

Talking about not being wasteful and giving things a purpose, a lot of your pieces are tech scraps from the '70s, '80s. So what is it about these pieces that you find so special? 

I like to be sustainable throughout and I go to this place close to the military base on the water where they take extra fabrics from designers, like Marc Jacobs, and  partner with them and sell the fabrics to smaller designers. And then the tech scraps, I love sci-fi movies like I love, love love. They always give me this feeling in my stomach, even if it's apocalyptic. Even The Matrix is not so positive about the future, but I still enjoy the fashion, the eerie feeling, and the coldness of it. I don't know, there's something about it.

With the tech scraps, I was thinking, how can I bring my love of futurism without being cheesy or too much? So I was scrolling through eBay, and I typed in vintage circuit boards. I thought that the pattern was so beautiful and then the patterns were made out of real silver. So I'm like, "Wow, this is jewelry." I started sketching designs, and I'm like, "How can I make this into something chic and wearable and not overdoing it?" Being tasteful, you know, because it is something that's unconventional as jewelry. So I came up with the I Pray to Tech circuit board crosses and the little microchip necklaces.

So with your work, you also do all the photography, for the collections as well. How is it melding the fashion and photo worlds together?

I just feel like I have such a deep background because I've dabbled in a lot of things. So I feel like I've acquired skills over the years. My first medium was drawing as a kid. And then my mom got my first sewing machine when I was very young, so I started learning that, but then my dad gave my sister a camera when she was very young as well. She and I loved taking pictures. We took pictures of everything, and we actually made YouTube videos, like very silly ones and we edited them and then uploaded them. Then when MySpace came around, we were heavy in it. I don't know if you remember the MySpace days, but like, we were in coding, you know what I mean?

No, literally being coders on that.

We literally know how to code because of MySpace. But I grew up in South Carolina so there's not many artistic people there and stuff like that. I remember specifically in high school, people paid me to do their MySpace pages, and to edit their pictures. I was deep in the scene thing too and I loved Tumblr and how the girls took pictures of themselves, and did the scene hair and all that. So we would dress up our friend in all these scene clothes and do her makeup and everything and take pictures of her. I love photography and I really don't mind taking the pictures and editing them. Because I feel like who's better at communicating your vision than yourself, right? But I'd love to collaborate with photographers in the future.

In the next year how far would you like to see Chavarri go?

In the next year I would love to be on SSENSE, but I know that takes a lot. I don't even know what it takes to be on there. I want more interviews like this one and I really love Retail Pharmacy and what she's doing. I guess third party pop-ups like that. They're really fun and I love seeing the other designers' pieces. I am thinking about doing a small runway show with Retail Pharmacy in the future. That is a big hope, because I would love to do something physical visually, you know? Even if it's not like a runway show and it's more avant garde and freestyle.