The Spanish designer Luis de Javier staged his first runway show stateside in New York in February of 2023. A Pornhub sponsorship made the show possible. The collection was styled by Patti Wilson and Julia Fox was the closer; both are supporters of the 27 year old talent. “We had no production, no dressers, no anything,” recalled de Javier over the phone of the challenges of staging a show as a newbie. “Once the show ended, I locked myself in the toilet and realized how stressful this thing that I really want can be for me,” he said.
Chasing sponsorships for shows can be exhilarating early on, as does making ends meet with custom orders for celebrities, and they certainly make a good story, but it doesn’t necessarily add up to a real business. “And it definitely wasn’t healthy for me,” he said.
De Javier found the support most designers dream of early on. First came Wilson, a veteran with a sharp eye for up and comers, who styled Grimes in a few of his pieces for a Vanity Fair cover shoot in March of 2022. The editorial was photographed by Steven Klein, who invited the designer to a dinner for his new book. “I thought I’d be on a table with all the boy toys,” said de Javier with a laugh, “but then Steven called me to sit with him, Edward [Enninful], Naomi [Campbell], and Riccardo [Tisci].” De Javier connected with Tisci, who became a friend and mentor. “Riccardo told me that he was in my position many years ago and all he needed was someone to believe in him, and that he’d be that person for me.” Tisci helped de Javier make his brand “understandable,” building a fully fledged collection by riffing on his sexy rave-ready, latex fabrications.
He showed his first collection working with Tisci last October. The show was made possible in part by Emcee, a social shopping platform built to enable product discovery through creator content, that also supported the shows of Collina Strada, Dion Lee, and Luar last September. “I started racing into this without the business side,” said de Javier, “and after launching these collections I realized I had to then go to Paris and find a shitty Airbnb to dress up into a pretend-showroom to get orders from buyers, and then get in debt trying to produce them only for them to not pay me in time.”
De Javier is not alone. Designers like himself, who find attention or acclaim early on often tend to rush or stumble into establishing brands without much structure. He has the support, but is it enough?
“I was at the highest point in my career [after Los Angeles] but then had to let go of my place in London and share a room with my best friend, and let go of my assistants,” said the designer. He was making custom looks for celebrities and getting editorial placements, but it wasn’t making ends meet. “When is it gonna get easier?” Is all he remembers thinking.
De Javier spent time in Barcelona last summer, where he’s since relocated (“London was too expensive, and I don’t need to be there to prove anything to anyone”). Irony of ironies, his mother is an economics professor, and made his business a case study for one of her workshops; he was learning from the students, not the other way around. “I needed to start thinking business in order to make this work,” he said. Following his Los Angeles show, he reconnected with Emcee: “I wanted to change the way Fashion Week works for me and my audience, and find a way to deliver a collection for them with the right backing.”
The conversations led to what is, as of now, a temporary partnership. De Javier will drop four capsules available exclusively on Emcee over the next couple of months, the first one launching today. As de Javier describes it, the product is a more commercial take on his runway collections, which are often more concept-driven and theatrical. The April drop is decisively street, with hoodies, shorts, t-shirts, and de Javier’s first handbag. The following drop in June will be timed for LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations, and include items like jockstraps. In July comes a ready-to-wear focused capsule featuring going-out dresses which build up to dressier styles for September, which will coincide with de Javier’s next runway show. He plans to stage it during Paris Fashion Week.
“I have a kind of fire in me,” said de Javier. “Every time I’m about to give up life will throw me something else that would keep me going.” He has the attention, the support, and now a way to reach his audience with products they can actually buy. De Javier started a fire—it’s up to him to keep it going.
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