This story is part of Image’s April issue, “Reverie” — an invitation to lean into the spaces of dreams and fantasy. Enjoy the journey.
When Johnny Valencia was 14, a kid growing up in Koreatown obsessed with biology and entomology, he learned about a rare butterfly, the Papilio hospiton, that was endemic to the French island of Corsica. “I love the rarest of the rare,” Valencia says. “I’ve always loved the rarest of the rare.”
He thought about the butterfly for 10 years, until he eventually made it to Corsica while studying abroad and was able to acquire it for himself. Today, the delicate creature sits in a frame hung on the wall behind the desk in his sun-drenched L.A. showroom. It’s a totem that represents Valencia’s dedication to the rare, the special, the hard-to-get — and it’s found a home among the many other grails of the vintage collector. In this room you’ll find a Vivienne Westwood “SEX” choker, John Galliano-era Dior logo rings, a Gucci silver crystal mesh mask from fall/winter 2017, a pair of spring/summer 2017 Saint Laurent roller skate shoes, original Marc Jacobs Kiki boots from fall/winter 2016 and pieces from Jean Paul Gaultier’s cyberdot 1995 collection. The list goes on, and it goes deep.
Vivienne wears Thierry Mugler AW90/91 dress, shorts and gloves, Vivienne Westwood AW93/94 pumps, Schiaparelli SS23 earrings.
Valencia, who was dubbed the King of Corsets by Vogue for his deep knowledge and archive of the signature Vivienne Westwood pieces, is also the king of his self-created universe, his Bichon Lucas lounging on a custom-made dog bed like one of Marie Antoinette’s pugs while classical music purrs softly in the background. The collection that surrounds him is the result of his obsession with acquiring precious things, which may have started with butterflies but has grown to include rare vintage runway pieces from Comme des Garçons, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Alexander McQueen and Saint Laurent. “I look around me and I’m like, ‘Yeah, there has to be a touch of madness to pursue something you’re so passionate about,” Valencia says. “Not only to pursue it, but to have it come to fruition and materialize. It’s a whole different thing.”
Pechuga Vintage, Valencia’s vintage archive and business, has become a go-to for amateur fashion freaks and professionals alike. Stylists, hardcore collectors, It girls: They all flock to Johnny. Last year, Beyoncé purchased a pair of Vivienne Westwood fall/winter ’10 Red Label armor boots from Valencia. On a red carpet recently, Katy Perry wore the Vivienne Westwood mock croc Super Elevated Court Pumps from his shop. Rihanna recently was spotted with a Dior Hardcore fall/winter ’03 bag she purchased from the archive.
Before Valencia became the source for rare designer pieces, he studied animal sciences while living on a farm at UC Davis, and later studied international relations and economics, which led him to attending Sciences Po in France. He would end up working for the Salvadoran Consulate. He once harbored ambitions to become a vet, or, as his grandma would have hoped, the president of El Salvador, where his family immigrated to L.A. from. But in fashion — using Vivienne Westwood as his gateway drug — Valencia found it all: history, politics, nature, curiosity and, ultimately, freedom.
“I’ve tried colorful styles. I’ve tried classy or minimalist,” says Lopez. “But I always go back to all black, studs, spikes.”
While he was pursuing his diplomatic ambitions, Valencia took a role as an unpaid intern at Vivienne Westwood and switched his focus to fashion, working his way up to being a buyer. (Before starting his business, Valencia also dabbled in PR and event marketing.) “In Westwood’s designs, I found a lot of liberty because it was so well made,” Valencia says. “It fit into every portion of life.”
Oscars weekend was on the horizon, and Valencia would end up working with Adore the Couture to get a pair of vintage couture silk Chanel opera gloves to supermodel Irina Shayk for the Vanity Fair Oscars party. On Instagram, Valencia posted a screenshot of a last-minute request from Shayk’s team, and the process of making a pull like that happen — which he does all the time with the help of his staff and Virgo moon.
It was a particularly insane week at Pechuga. Oscars weekend was on the horizon, and Valencia would end up working with Adore the Couture to get a pair of vintage couture silk Chanel opera gloves to supermodel Irina Shayk for the Vanity Fair Oscars party. On Instagram, Valencia posted a screenshot of a last-minute request , and the process of making a pull like that happen — which he does all the time with the help of his staff and Virgo moon. (For the record, Pechuga is a Scorpio sun and Leo rising, evident in his deeply mystic undertones and great hair.) He regularly gives followers a backstage pass to his process, highlighting the community that keeps Pechuga going behind the scenes, which often includes Latinos and trans women. “I’m so passionate about dressing women and being there for women,” Valencia says. “It spills over to my love for the trans community. I see that connection with marginalized communities, and I’m so impassioned to stand up for people that have been historically neglected.”
Mercy wears Thierry Mugler AW90/91 jacket, Versace SS92 earrings, Saint Laurent heels, Wolford tights, Valentino ring.
Pechuga enthusiasts will recognize Valencia’s two assistants and friends, Priscilla Yael and Sophia Jaime, who make regular appearances on his social channels, along with endearing videos of his grandmother trying on pieces from the shop. What did she think of the Marni X No Vacancy Inn orange raffia hat with cutout sunglasses that Valencia had her wear? “Esta pretty.”
“For a very long time, until recently, she thought it was still a hobby,” Valencia says of his grandmother, whom he considers one of his first mentors. “One day — this was fairly recent — I was like, ‘I’m very stressed out. I have a lot of work.’ And she was like, ‘Why? This is your hobby.’ I had to make the distinction for her. Hobbies don’t pay you. This might be a passion. But I’m working.”
“I try to design as if I’m in the future, not as if I’m trying to imagine what the future is about.”
If Pechuga’s Instagram and TikTok are our classroom, Valencia is our teacher in Tabis, doing deep dives into specific eras in fashion history — like Marc Jacobs’ time at Louis Vuitton — or giving context to an item that’s re-entered the discourse, like that Alexander McQueen Dante mask from ’96. But it’s his unboxing videos that are truly addicting, almost as if we, the viewer, were absorbing that surge of dopamine that comes from finally opening up something special we bought off the internet. Valencia has a distinctive, infectious giggle that serves as the soundtrack to these videos. It’s like watching a little kid open a new toy. He holds up pieces he won at auction or scored through private collectors — like the armor jacket from Vivienne Westwood’s ’88/’89 Time Machine collection, or a dress from Thierry Mugler’s fall/winter ’86 collection. “I live for documentation,” Valencia says. “It’s a natural thing.”
Mercy wears Jean Paul Gaultier SS96 top and bottom, Schiaparelli AW21 earrings, Bottega Veneta heels.
Any fashion addict visiting the Pechuga showroom will clock a palpable energy radiating from the clothes — tension, desire, amazement filling the showroom. (Listening back on my audio recording from our interview, I’m pretty sure I audibly moaned when Valencia pulled out a Comme des Garçons latex vest from its fall 2019 ready-to-wear collection. Embarrassing, but valid.) When John Galliano paid Valencia’s showroom a visit last year, he summed it up: “There’s magic here,” Valencia remembers the designer saying.
The way Valencia sees it, he’s only the latest stop in a long journey that these pieces have taken throughout history. “It precedes me,” he says. “Westwood had to make those boots and those shoes. And women in the 18th century had to make those corsets. There’s a lot that’s implied with the items that we see.”
We asked Valencia to give us brief history lessons and share memories of some of the most special pieces in his archive, the grails that still spark that same level of curiosity and desire he had as a kid chasing rare butterflies.
Louis Vuitton X Vivienne Westwood Bum Bag (1996)
There were only 100 made. [We have the 84th piece.] Vivienne Westwood made it in collaboration with Louis Vuitton to celebrate their centenary — the monogram was turning 100 in 1996. The shape of it: Westwood took inspiration from the bustle. In essence, she was the designer that brought back that silhouette in 1995. And her logic was that she wanted the silhouette to look like a sketch. She was like, “I want my women to look like croquis.” She accentuated the bum. The bust. In hindsight, everything aligned. The first time I encountered [one], I sold it immediately. [This is the second Louis Vuitton X Vivienne Westwood bum bag Valencia has had in his collection.]
Alexander McQueen “Life Is Pain” shirt (Fall/Winter ’96)
That was an ego purchase. I was going through a really difficult time in my life and I related to the message a lot. There’s a fascination with it. I purchased it, got out of the turmoil that I was in. It’s like, pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. I think the experience you feel when you put something on can be very spiritual because everything has an energy.
Vivienne Westwood Silver Horn Tiara With Orb (Fall/Winter ’05)
It’s interesting, because people think that it has some sort of allusion to the devil but it’s the complete opposite of that. They represent satyr horns. In the ’90s, Westwood took a lot of inspiration from pagans. Even with the draping of her garments, she looked at Grecian and Roman paintings and emulated that style. And one of the things to come out of that exploration were these horns. They represented, for her, fecundity and paganism. It alludes to the horn of plenty — the cornucopia and abundance.
The late Japanese designer’s clothes are daring in their imagination. You don’t always know how to wear something and part of the fun is in figuring it out.
Issey Miyake Plastic Body bodice (Fall/Winter ’80/’81)
I love corsets. I love what they do to the body. And I love Issey Miyake’s intention with that particular collection. One, because it came as a series. In the ’80s, Issey was exploring different materials. He would make pieces out of straw. Then Plastic Body came out. I love the juxtaposition. There’s clearly a feminine aspect to it, or what we attribute to feminine energy. And then the hard exterior. I told myself if I ever find this piece, I have to buy it. It’s probably one of my most expensive pieces — 50 grand.
Gucci Silver Mesh Mask (Fall/Winter ’17)
There was such a transition from Tom Ford’s Gucci to Alessandro Michele’s Gucci. To me, it’s embodied in this. Because how do we go from Gucci ’96, the wet look, to this? I mean, it’s also really cool. Rihanna wearing it [to Coachella in 2017] makes it so [powerful].
Issey Miyake Gunpowder dress (1998)
With Issey and Cai Guo-Qiang [the artist who collaborated with Miyake on this Pleats Please collection] there was such an elaborate setting for [the process]. Guo-Qiang set down all this pleated fabric on the floor and put gunpowder on it, then he set it on fire. And the imprint that was left behind was then translated onto the garment, like printing. It’s my mission to tell you about this process because in the moment it was happening, yes, it was quite the spectacle. But it’s gone. And who knows how that conversation was initiated? We know that Issey started the artists series and this was one of the installations. I believe there were four [in total]. What does it mean now to wear it in 2024?
Location: The Wiltern
Producer: Mere Studios
Models: Vivienne Gomez, Minji M., Mercy Rivera
Makeup: Jaime Diaz
Hair: Belen Gomez
Photo assistant: Brandon Young
Styling assistant: Sophia Jaime
