It’s been a banner year for the recognition of Grace Wales Bonner and her contribution to the elevation of Black elegance—and for her rare elegance of mind, period. “I was kind of coming off the Met in May. Thinking about Superfine style,” she said before her 10th anniversary show in Paris. “I was translating that sentiment—that kind of expressive mode of dressing—into a bit more of an everyday wardrobe.”
We were seated in the very grand library of an 18th century hall of Parisian academia, fanning ourselves with our programmes—it was that ridiculously hot. On came a collection with the subtle hallmarks of Wales Bonner’s sophisticated, exacting way of designing Savile Row tailoring, Crombie coats, British Jermyn Street button-down shirts, and English knitwear made in collaboration with John Smedley. All of this was parceled out with shorts, jeans, leather bomber jackets, and Wales Bonner’s collection of mixed-media diamond and gemstone brooches, dripping with baroque pearls.
She titled the collection Jewel, meaning something which extends beyond the launch of her gorgeous pins. “I was thinking of people that collect specific types of clothing or records, and they might have inherited certain pieces from their grandparents,” she explained. “They might have quite an edited wardrobe, but what they have is all very kind of treasured and personal.”
All of this seems to undersell where Wales Bonner’s talent really lies, though. Unlike many peers and elders, she’s not a performative designer. She believes in layered meanings, and each layer is perfectly chosen, considered, and adapted to be usefully worn. It’s not minimalism, either. One example: the way she transfers tuxedo trouser-stripes onto everything from jeans to tailored day-suits with low-key chic for every occasion. And another: the gorgeousness that explodes from her shoe designs. There’s a collaboration with Y-3 (she has blanket-stitched around the tongue to make a football shoe more Wales Bonner-ish), as well as amazing evening slippers with jeweled buckles, suede loafers, and a fascinating hybrid of calfskin driving shoes and ballet pumps.
In the excitement of the Met Gala, it was arguably—I’m going to stick my neck out here—Wales Bonner who came out best of all with the way she dressed Lewis Hamilton, FKA twigs, Omar Apollo, Jeff Goldblum, Tyler Mitchell, and curator Monica L. Miller. As well as, of course, herself. They won for not being overdressed. There’s a reserve in her designs that is considerate. It lets people own who they are.