Wales Bonner AW25 Womenswear | Lookbook Launch

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New visions of glamour resound in the Wales Bonner Autumn Winter 2025 womenswear collection. Tropes of masculinity and femininity are made hybrid in pure clothing; silhouettes between utility and elegance celebrate an eclectic and introspective style. Lavish fringe dresses channel the allure of archival images from Ebony and Jet magazines, with inspired opulence in navy satin and ivory cashmere. Meanwhile, open-back knit dresses are accompanied by tough leather biker jackets softened by decorative Mongolian shearling. The Selah cropped T-shirt features imagery from Moneta Sleet Jr.’s renowned photographic collection, offering a subtle reference to his iconic work, courtesy of The Black Image Corporation - a conceptual project by Chicago-based artist TheasterGates.

Artisanal craft processes are revisited in natural indigo-dyed denim silhouettes with corduroy contrasts, while gold lock closures adorn hard-wearing coats in Italian leather and Japanese canvas. In knitwear, mended and darned, we visualise the gestures and rhythms evident in the process of making.

Delicate craft continues in multicolour macrame sets made in India, alongside silk and organza ensembles wherein stud hardwear becomes fine embroidery. 70s glamour reverberates in studded pilgrim loafers, leather boots, and the signature Jewel Mary Jane reissued in gold.

Theaster Gates

Theaster Gates is Chicago- and Japan-based artist whose practice finds roots in conceptual formalism, sculpture, space theory, land art, and performance. Trained in urban planning and within the tradition of Japanese ceramics, Gates’s artistic philosophy is guided by the concepts of Shintoism, Buddhism

and Animism - most notably honoring the “spirit within things.” Foundational to Gates’s practice is his custodianship and critical redeployment of culturally significant Black objects, archives, and spaces as a formal exercise. Through the expansiveness of his approach as a thinker, maker, and builder, Gates extends the life of disappearing and bygone histories, places, craft traditions, and loved ones. Gates has exhibited and performed at the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2024); The LUMA Foundation, Arles, France (2024, 2023); The New Museum, New York, (2022); The Aichi Triennial, Tokoname (2022); The

Serpentine Pavilion, London (2022); The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK (2021); Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2013 and 2021); Tate Liverpool, UK (2020); Haus der Kunst, Munich (2020); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2019); Palais de Tokyo Paris, France (2019); Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany  (2018); Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland (2018); National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., USA (2017); Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada (2016); Fondazione Prada, Milan, Italy (2016); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2016); Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy (2013); and dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany (2012). Gates is the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees including the Isamu Noguchi Award (2023); National Buildings Museum Vincent Scully Prize (2023); Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts (2022); an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Institute of British Architects (2021); the World Economic Forum Crystal Award (2020); J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development (2018); Nasher Sculpture Prize (2018); Sprengel Museum Kurt Schwitters Prize (2017); and Artes Mundi 6 Prize (2015).

Wales Bonner

Wales Bonner proposes a distinct notion of cultural luxury that infuses European heritage with an Afro Atlantic spirit. Launched by Grace Wales Bonner following her graduation from Central Saint Martins in 2014, the label is informed by broad cultural research and embraces a multiplicity of perspectives. Established as a menswear brand, Wales Bonner’s soulful tailoring soon expanded to womenswear. Grace 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), CFDA International Men’s Designer of the Year (2021), Independent British Brand at the Fashion Awards (2022) and British Menswear Designer at the Fashion Awards (2024). Wales Bonner has collaborated with brands including adidas Originals, Anderson & Sheppard, and Dior.

Stockists include Selfridges, Net-a-Porter, Mr. Porter, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks 5th Avenue, Nordstrom, Dover Street Market International and Boon the Shop.

Grace Wales Bonner’s institutional exhibitions include A Time For New Dreams, Serpentine Galleries London (2019) and Artist’s Choice - Spirit Movers at the  Museum of Modern Art, New York (2023) with accompanying publication Dream in the Rhythm: Visions of Sound and Spirit in the MoMA Collection (2023). Grace is currently leading a four-year research project, titled Between Critique and Hope, at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.