It’s a year of years for Grace Wales Bonner, who in a few months’ time will take over as creative director of menswear at Hermès, a role held by Véronique Nichanian, fashion’s longest-serving creative director.
In the meantime, Wales Bonner has been working on her signature collection, which she launched in 2014 and which she plans to continue alongside the Hermès job.
For fall, she looked to Indian classical music and modernist design, and specifically to the repetitive, emotionally charged chords of raga, and the brutalist architect Balkrishna Doshi.
“I was thinking about modernist design as a way of shaping new identities, and about an architect’s or a designer’s wardrobe. I was also looking at color blocking, and design details like the sash, which has ceremonial connotations as well,” the designer said.
The collection had pure lines, bold shapes and a sporty-cum-workwear feel. Looks included a dark rugby shirt with a thick white stipe running diagonally down the front; madras baseball style jackets and long-sleeve shirts with leather collars, and dusky tailored suits with a subtle, scratchy check pattern.
Knits came with stripes – some fat, others skinny – in an earthy palette, with refreshing pops of lavender. Others knits were nubby and textured with twisted cables or delicate ribs, as in a fine-gauge twinset inspired by old-fashioned long johns.
Wales Bonner has been raising her knitting game, working closely with the historic Derbyshire, England-based knitwear manufacturer John Smedley, exploring its archives and surveying her own prototypes down to the last stitch.
“They have an incredible archive, fine yarns and an amazing ethos around creating a very sustainable way. Everything’s washed in natural spring water. I can also be in the factory, seeing how the pieces are stitched together,” Bonner related.
Her attention to detail didn’t end there. No Wales Bonner collection would be complete without delicate decorative detail, and this season it came in the shape of silver studs lining the edges of leather collars, or scattered across skirts.
She also adorned her clothing with architectural brooches, made in Botswana by Beullah Serema and Peter Mabeo and crafted from panga panga wood and semi-precious stones.
There is much work ahead, but Wales Bonner said she’s eager to start the new chapter of her career. Asked about Hermès, she said “it’s such a magical house. I’m really looking forward to working with the heritage, and having a perspective on that.”
