A Time for Grace

Through her deep ties to the art world, Grace Wales Bonner has defined a new approach to fashion design and turned her vision of Black elegance into the hottest thing in menswear.

- By Samuel Hine

Earlier this year, as Grace Wales Bonner staged her latest runway show, her first in Paris, careful observers could glimpse all the elements of a major player in the menswear firmament coming into view. A baller venue: the ornate salons of the 18th-century Hôtel d'Évreux at Place Vendôme. A VIPstudded front row. An Adidas collab, including jerseys for the Jamaican national soccer teams. Down the runway, she also sent debonair dinner jackets, leopard-print babouches, and cowrie-shell-embroidered trousers, all emblematic of the Afro-diasporic style she's become famous for. It was the grandest expression of her powerful vision yet and one of the finest collections of the entire season.

The soft-spoken designer is comfortably at the leading edge of menswear's next generation of creatives. Her trophy cabinet is already running out of space. Since launching her brand, called Wales Bonner, in 2015, the 32-year-old South London native has won just about every important fashion prize there is. But no industry accolade can express just how electrifying her exploration of identity and the Black experience is right now. She is, certainly, one of the most talented fashion designers of the moment, and smart money would bet on her achieving her goal of developing Wales Bonner as a longterm project, with an aim, she said, of "bringing an AfroAtlantic spirit in European luxury." That is, in her words, "to establish a luxury house that represents a broader cultural perspective." That vision is more convincing now than ever, in part because of how confidently, exuberantly collaborative she is.