Grace Wales Bonner
{{short description|English fashion designer (born 1990)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Grace Wales Bonner
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE}}
| image = File:Grace Wales Bonner (cropped).jpg
| alt =
| caption = Wales Bonner in 2015
| birth_name = Grace Wales
| birth_date =
| birth_place = South London, England
| death_date =
| death_place =
| other_names =
| occupation = Fashion designer
| alma_mater = Central Saint Martins
| employer = University of Applied Arts, Vienna
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| awards = L'Oréal Professionnel Talent award
| website = {{URL|https://walesbonner.net/pages/about}}
}}
Grace Wales Bonner {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE}} is an English fashion designer.[https://walesbonner.net/pages/about "About".], Wales Bonner website. Her designs blend sportswear and tailoring.{{Cite web|last=Tashjian|first=Rachel|title=For Grace Wales Bonner, the Tracksuit Is Sacred|url=https://www.gq.com/story/grace-wales-bonner-spring-2021|date=28 September 2020|access-date=29 September 2020|website=GQ|language=en-us}} In 2014, she founded the London-based label Wales Bonner, originally specializing in menswear.[https://www.businessoffashion.com/community/people/grace-wales-bonner "Grace Wales Bonner"], BoF 500.
Since founding her eponymous brand, Wales Bonner awards include Emerging Menswear Designer at the British Fashion Awards (2015), the LVMH Young Designer Prize (2016), Winner of the British Fashion Council/ Vogue Designer Fashion Fund (2019) and CFDA International Men's Designer of the Year (2021). In June 2022, she was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to fashion. Wales Bonner is the head of the department of Fashion Design at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna.
Early life
She was born in South London to a white English mother and Jamaican father,{{cite news|first=Alex |last=Rayner|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/feb/02/grace-wales-bonner-im-a-fashion-designer-making-art-it-could-be-seen-as-silly |title=Interview: Grace Wales Bonner: 'I'm a fashion designer making art – it could be seen as silly'|newspaper=The Guardian|date= 2 February 2019}} and after her parents' separation was brought up between her mother's house in Dulwich and her father's in Stockwell.[https://thegentlewoman.co.uk/library/grace-wales-bonner "The Wardrobe with Grace Wales Bonner"], The Gentlewoman, no. 14, Autumn & Winter 2016.
Wales Bonner studied at Graveney School in Tooting, then attended Central Saint Martins art school, graduating in 2014, and winning the L'Oréal Professionnel Talent Award for her BA collection "Afrique".[https://www.showstudio.com/contributors/grace_wales_bonner "Grace Wales Bonner"] at Show Studio.[https://032c.com/editorial-grace-wales-bonners-bejeweled-visions-of-menswear "Menswear Metaphysics: GRACE WALES BONNER’s Bejeweled Visions"], 032c, 22 January 2019 (2014 interview republisheda). Subsequent awards she has received include "Emerging Talent – Menswear" at the 2015 British Fashion Awards, the 2016 LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers, the British Fashion Council/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund (2019), the CFDA International Men's Designer of the Year (2021),{{cite magazine|first=Sarah |last=Mower|url=https://www.vogue.com/article/grace-wales-bonner-sarah-mower |title=The Full Story on Grace Wales Bonner From a Vogue Editor Who's Been Following Her From the Beginning|magazine=Vogue|date=17 June 2016}} and in 2023 the British Fashion Council/GQ Designer Fashion Fund.{{cite web|url=https://www.businessoffashion.com/news/media/grace-wales-bonner-wins-bfcgq-designer-fashion-fund/|title=Grace Wales Bonner Wins BFC/GQ Designer Fashion Fund|first=Yola|last=Mzizi|website=The Business of Fashion|date=7 June 2023|access-date=10 June 2023}}
Career
In 2019, she curated her debut show, A Time For New Dreams, for the Serpentine Sackler Gallery,{{cite web|first=Danielle|last= Wightman-Stone|url=https://fashionunited.uk/news/culture/grace-wales-bonner-stages-first-exhibition/2019012441199 |title=Grace Wales Bonner stages first exhibition|website=FashionUnited|date= 24 January 2019}} which was an exploration of magical resonances within black cultural and aesthetic practices, and focused on the shrine "as a symbolic pathway for imagining different worlds and possibilities".[https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/grace-wales-bonner-time-new-dreams "Grace Wales Bonner: A Time for New Dreams"], Serpentine Gallery, 19 January 2019 to 17 March 2019. The exhibition, which attracted 25,000 visitors, took its name from a collection of essays by Nigerian writer Ben Okri, and included work by several artists (including Chino Amobi, the Black Audio Film Collective, David Hammons, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Liz Johnson Artur, Rashid Johnson, Kapwani Kiwanga, Eric N. Mack and Paul Mpagi Sepuya),{{cite magazine|first=Hikmat |last=Mohammed|url=https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/a25982853/grace-wales-bonner-serpentine/ |title=Grace Wales Bonner Brings Her Cultural References to the Serpentine|magazine=Elle|date=22 January 2019}} featuring Okri's words on the wall, as well as footage of African-American writer Ishmael Reed.{{cite magazine|first=Liam|last= Freeman|url=https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/grace-wales-bonner-aw19-preview|title=Grace Wales Bonner On The Inspiration Behind Her AW19 Collection|magazine=Vogue|date= 17 February 2019}} At the show's opening, Reed performed and Okri recited a poem written for the occasion.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/fashion/grace-wales-bonner-london.html|title=The Revelations of Grace Wales Bonner|newspaper=The New York Times|first=Matthew|last=Schneier|date=20 February 2019}} According to Hans-Ulrich Obrist, artistic director of the Serpentine Gallery: "Grace is a fashion designer, but she's also a thinker, a writer, and an editor. She makes connections between different fields, from music to art."
In that same year, Wales Bonner was invited by Maria Grazia Chiuri to collaborate with Dior to re-interpret the house's New Look silhouette for its Resort 2020 collection. The following year, in 2020, Wales Bonner was recognised as one of the United Kingdom's most influential people of African or African Caribbean heritage by being included in the 2021 edition of the annual Powerlist.{{cite news |last1=Lavender |first1=Jane |title=Lewis Hamilton ends incredible year top of influential Black Powerlist 2021 |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/black-power-list-2021-lewis-23017308 |access-date=19 January 2021 |work=Mirror |date=17 November 2020 |language=en}}
Wales Bonner has collaborated with sportswear brand Adidas.{{cite web|first=Tyler|last=Watamanuk|title=Adidas and Wales Bonner Are Back With Another Hit Collab|url=https://www.gq.com/story/adidas-wales-bonner-spring-22|magazine=GQ|date=3 June 2022}} In 2022, she collaborated with renowned American artist Kerry James Marshall on a limited-edition T-shirt.{{cite web|url=https://www.davidzwirner.com/news/2022/kerry-james-marshall-collaborates-with-wales-bonner-on-collection|title=Kerry James Marshall Collaborates with Wales Bonner on Collection|publisher=David Zwirner|date=2022|access-date=21 June 2022}} Since 2020, Wales Bonner and Adidas have collaborated on 25 sold-out sneakers. In 2024, the partnership introduced two new monochromatic leather colourways for Samba in a creamy white and black.{{Cite web |date=2024-02-07 |title=Adidas's Latest Wales Bonner Sambas Are Here—and They're Extremely Rare |url=https://www.gq.com/story/wales-bonner-adidas-samba-studded-pack |access-date=2024-02-17 |website=GQ |language=en-US}}
Wales Bonner was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to fashion.{{London Gazette|issue=63714|supp=y|page=B17|date=1 June 2022}}
Awards
- 2015: Emerging Menswear Designer at the British Fashion Awards
- 2016: LVMH Young Designer Prize
- 2019: Winner of the British Fashion Council/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund
- 2021: CFDA International Men's Designer of the Year
- 2022: appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)
- 2023: British Fashion Council/GQ Designer Fashion Fund Winner
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{Official website|https://walesbonner.net/pages/about}}
- Samuel Hine, [https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/fashion/article/grace-wales-bonner-interview-2023 "Grace Wales Bonner’s vision of Black elegance is changing fashion"], GQ, 11 April 2023.
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Category:Alumni of Central Saint Martins
Category:Black British fashion people
Category:English women fashion designers
Category:English fashion designers