Grace Wales Bonner
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Wales Bonner in 2015
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| Born | Grace Wales 1990 (age 33–34)
South London, England
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| Alma mater | Central Saint Martins |
| Occupation | Fashion designer |
| Employer | University of Applied Arts, Vienna |
| Awards | L'Oréal Professionnel Talent award |
| Website | walesbonner |
Grace Wales Bonner MBE (born 1990) is an English fashion designer, whose work "proposes a distinct notion of cultural luxury that infuses European heritage with an Afro Atlantic spirit".[1] Her designs are characterized by a blend of sportswear and tailoring, as well as her interest in infusing everyday wardrobe essentials with a refined elegance.[2] In 2014, she founded the London-based label Wales Bonner, originally specializing in menswear.[1][3]
Since founding her eponymous brand, Wales Bonner has received numerous awards including 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), and in June 2022 she was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to fashion. Wales Bonner currently serves as the Head of the Department of Fashion Design at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna.[1]
She was born in South London to a white English mother and Jamaican father,[4] and after her parents' separation was brought up between her mother's house in Dulwich and her father's in Stockwell.[5]
Wales Bonner studied at Central Saint Martins art school, graduating in 2014, and winning the L'Oréal Professionnel Talent Award for her BA collection "Afrique".[6][7] 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),[1][8] and in 2023 the British Fashion Council/GQ Designer Fashion Fund.[9]
In 2019, she curated her debut show, A Time For New Dreams, for the Serpentine Sackler Gallery,[10] 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".[11] 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),[10][12] featuring Okri's words on the wall, as well as footage of African-American writer Ishmael Reed.[13] At the show's opening, Reed performed and Okri recited a poem written for the occasion.[14] 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."[13]
In that same year, Grace was invited by Maria Grazia Chiuri to collaborate with Dior to re-interpret the house's New Look silhouette for its Resort 2020 collection.[1] The following year, in 2020, Wales Bonner was recognized 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.[15]
Wales Bonner has collaborated with sportswear brand adidas on a number of occasions, producing seasonal offerings that update and refine archival silhouettes.[16] In 2022, she collaborated with renowned American artist Kerry James Marshall on a limited-edition T-shirt.[17] Since 2020, Grace Wales Bonner and Adidas have collaborated on 25 sold-out sneakers. In 2024, the partnership introduced two new monochromatic leather colorways for Samba in a creamy white and black. Both colors are limited edition and were released on February 9, 2024.[18]
Wales Bonner was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to fashion.[19]
