Ten years is a milestone for any designer, and especially the London-based ones who are mostly underfunded, and having to work hard to keep their businesses afloat with collaborations, partnerships and creative director roles at other fashion houses, in other countries.
Grace Wales Bonner, one of the few who’s made it to 10 years, marked the occasion with a romantic show at Lycée Henri IV, with its book-lined walls, frescoed ceilings and colorful tiled floors.
“It’s such a beautiful, elegant space. I liked the intellectual aspect. It’s for a dreamer, a researcher,” said Wales Bonner, whose muse for spring was an eccentric character, a collector, someone who has inherited things over time.
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It was clear, too, that she was looking at her own body of work over the past decade and highlighting what she’s learned, and what she loves.
The collection was brimming with Wales Bonner’s signature high-low tailoring, including a pair of white jeans with a black tuxedo stripe down the side, and a lineup of tailored shorts suits with D-ring buckles at the waist.
She plundered the archives at Y-3, sprinkling in sporty touches including field shoes, bits of oversized workwear, and slim tracksuit bottoms, which she paired with printed shirts. She paired damask shorts with rough, stringy edges, with a sharply tailored jacket for the man who wants it all — cool and formal.
Even the more formal tailoring had pizzazz. She worked with the historic British brand Crombie on the topcoats — a camel one had a cobalt collar — while her own sleek suits were cream with dashes of white, or a mix of black and brown.
Inspired by the “Superfine” dandy theme at the Met Gala last month, she also sent out a lineup of tailcoats, made by the Savile Row tailor Anderson & Sheppard, a longtime collaborator.
She added signature pearly touches to the sleeves, and layered those formal looks with sheer pussy-bow blouses and tops with lotus and baobab flower patterns, and finished lapels and belt loops with jewels resembling royal or military regalia.
The regal-looking jewels were a nod to her early collections, and the soft-edged romantic aesthetic she has made her own.