A month late and right on time, Willy Chavarria’s men’s wear collection reminded anyone with an interest in men’s wear of how essential a talent is this designer who follows nobody’s schedule but his own. Sure, the last men’s wear show of the official fashion week cycle was in late June, yet Mr. Chavarria chose July 24 for its nearness to his Cancer birthday.

And, as in the past, he used the occasion to embrace the political. Mr. Chavarria is no stranger to issues like exclusion, racism, gender inequality and the unacknowledged restrictions of mainstream fashion. Unlike other designers who may sample but seldom engage with the rich aesthetics of marginalized communities and fringe cultures, Mr. Chavarria celebrates them.

In the past, Mr. Chavarria has offered sweatshirts and polo shirts embroidered with phrases like “capitalism is heartless,” “savor kindness” and “born of an immigrant family,” a reference to his background as the child of migrant workers in the Central Valley of California.

He has staged shows in which models from across the spectrum of gender identity stood caged as though in internment camps. He has mounted a tenderly sensual presentation inspired by the visual codes of Chicano gang culture, set in one of Manhattan’s last gay leather bars.