Grace Wales Bonner

Grace Wales Bonner (born 1992) is a British fashion designer, whose work "addresses the politics of identity, sexuality, and race through projects that delicately balance multinationalism with a sense of personal subjectivity".[1] Her designs are characterized by a blend of sportswear and tailoring and her interest in making every day clothes, like the tracksuit, more elegant.[2] In 2014 she founded the London-based label Wales Bonner, originally specializing in menswear.[3][4] The recipient of several awards, she was voted number 41 on the Dazed 100 list in 2017.[5]

Grace Wales Bonner
Born
Grace Wales

1992 (age 28–29)
South London, United Kingdom
NationalityBritish
OccupationFashion designer
Websitewalesbonner.net/pages/about

Biography

She was born in south London to a white English mother and Jamaican father,[6] and after her parents' separation was brought up between her mother's house in Dulwich and her father's in Stockwell.[7]

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".[8][9] Subsequent awards she has received include the "Emerging Talent – Menswear" at the 2015 British Fashion Awards, the 2016 LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers,[10] and the British Land London emerging design medal in 2018.[6]

In 2019 she curated her debut show, A Time For New Dreams, for the Serpentine Sackler Gallery,[11] seeing it as "a space for meditation and reflection ... to connect with ideas of history and ancestor’s lineage, but it's also very global and open in its approach, so it's more of a place to reflect on how engaged with ideas we are both physically and bodily but also mentally and spiritually."[12][13] 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, Black Audio Film Collective, David Hammons, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Liz Johnson Artur, Rashid Johnson, Kapwani Kiwanga, Eric N. Mack and Paul Mpagi Sepuya),[11] featuring Okri's words on the wall, as well as footage of African-American writer Ishmael Reed.[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, an editor. She makes connections between different fields, from music to art."[14]

In 2019, Anna Wintour named Wales Bonner as one of the "new, young designers that she's excited about right now" when asked by Rihanna in a special edition of Vogue Magazine's "ASK ANNA".[15]. 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. [16]

References
  1. "Grace Wales Bonner", Grace Wales Bonner & Liz Johnson Artur, Laxart.
  2. Tashjian, Rachel. "For Grace Wales Bonner, the Tracksuit Is Sacred". GQ. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  3. "About", Wales Bonner website.
  4. "Grace Wales Bonner", BoF 500.
  5. "Grace Wales Bonner", Dazed100.
  6. Alex Rayner, "Interview: Grace Wales Bonner: 'I'm a fashion designer making art – it could be seen as silly'", The Guardian, 2 February 2019.
  7. "The Wardrobe with Grace Wales Bonner", The Gentlewoman, no. 14, Autumn & Winter 2016.
  8. "Grace Wales Bonner" at Show Studio.
  9. "Menswear Metaphysics: GRACE WALES BONNER’s Bejeweled Visions", 032c, 22 January 2019 (2014 interview republished).
  10. Sarah Mower, "The Full Story on Grace Wales Bonner From a Vogue Editor Who’s Been Following Her From the Beginning", Vogue, 17 June 2016.
  11. Danielle Wightman-Stone, "Grace Wales Bonner stages first exhibition", FashionUnited, 24 January 2019.
  12. Hikmat Mohammed, "Grace Wales Bonner Brings Her Cultural References to the Serpentine", Elle, 22 January 2019.
  13. "Grace Wales Bonner: A Time for New Dreams", Serpentine Sackler Gallery, 19 January 2019 to 17 March 2019.
  14. Liam Freeman, "Grace Wales Bonner On The Inspiration Behind Her AW19 Collection", Vogue, 17 February 2019.
  15. "Rihanna & Anna Wintour Ask Each Other Questions | Go Ask Anna | Vogue", 9 October 2019.
  16. Lavender, Jane (17 November 2020). "Lewis Hamilton ends incredible year top of influential Black Powerlist 2021". mirror. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
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