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.
“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.