“When I think about women’s wear, it’s a lot more personal—it’s my own style, and what I feel comfortable in.” Grace Wales Bonner’s conversations around design are normally so academically considered that it comes as a refreshing surprise to hear her talking a bit about herself for a change.
Women designers discussing the intricacies of clothing choices is always a fascinating—although usually strangely fenced-off—territory in the fashion conversation. Asked to describe more about her style, Wales Bonner put her head on one side and thought for a minute. “I guess I like a sense of formality, but I also like a bit of sense of play and—I don’t know—just some kind of more expressive element as well.”
We were looking at how her sense of formality turned up this season in a worker’s black donkey jacket which had acquired tuxedo-referenced satin shoulder patches and firefighter metal clip fastenings.
Other, even quieter examples on the ‘formal’ side are her plain but excellently-cut black trouser suit and a regular tuxedo jacket, of the kind she’s been having tailored by Anderson Sheppard of Savile Row for years.
You’d also be right if you’ve detected a slight late ’60s, early ’70s feel as also being very Wales Bonner. There’s always something understatedly nostalgic in her work. This season, that included the t-shirt photo-printed with a portrait of a model in a ’60s edition of Jet, the Black fashion magazine Wales Bonner found in Theaster Gates’ archive (the full backstory is in her menswear review). The chic of that era is hinted at in the rib-knit and brown leather A-line dress, a terrific cardigan jacket with leather trim, and a plunge-front belted black leather dress.
This is actually the first solely-women’s wear lookbook Wales Bonner has released in 10 years. That’s partly because she usually shows her women’s collections amongst her men’s, but as there was no show this season, the two collections are separated.
“I think there’s a lot I learned from menswear, and the traditions of menswear that I bring into women’s wear,” she said. Some of the pieces—a carpenter pant, a big cable zip-sleeve sweater, worn as a dress—read as direct references from her men’s collection. So, too, the silver-studded black leather boots.
It still may not warrant a standalone show, but it would be great to see Wales Bonner building out more of her women’s wear next time.
