Grace Wales Bonner isn’t having a show in Paris this season, for a fairly obvious reason: She is just getting her feet under the table at Hermès, where she’ll show her debut menswear collection in January. “It’s only been in the last two weeks, so it’s very early days,” she said. “It’s very inspiring to be in Paris and see how people dress here and a different sense of style. But,“ she laughed, “It’s also great to be from London and be able to go back to London and actually see that in a new way, and kind of be inspired by that as well. I feel like actually the movement between places is very inspiring.”
What she’s going to make of that is something the whole fashion world is on tenterhooks to find out. But we must hush and patiently wait. Wales Bonner can never be rushed in her thoughts. Slow, deliberate, and specific is her modus operandi, as is exemplified by the pared-down almost nothingness of her spring 2027 collection.
Nothing , that is, except the familiar strength of the wardrobe she’s been building. Here are her Anderson & Sheppard Savile Row tailored suits and coats. Here is a array of very nice knitwear, including zip-through cardigans and a quarter-zip sweater. Over there, the new cut of a white jean. Then, a sudden jolt at the sight of a pair of slinky leather snake-print embossed carpenter pants.
She didn’t come up with a very specific set of references for these clothes, though do we really need them? On a call, she was speaking instead about beauty, soulful expression and how “there is a power and a kind of gentleness and attractiveness in that kind of approach, which is, I suppose, quite subtle. Delicate and feminine, together with the idea or formality and restraint.”
Though there’s a spiritual nature to Wales Bonner’s thinking, her contemplativeness results not in vagueness but in an extreme focus on products. Her very successfully-selling footwear is unmissable and wantable in this lookbook. The elongated, slightly retro Paris Trainer and leather studded loafers: people already can’t get enough of these. That makes the thought of what she’ll do with Hermès accessories an even more exciting prospect. Only seven months to go to find out.