THE JOURNAL
Ms Grace Wales Bonner didn’t take long to get into her stride. The designer’s eponymous label, launched shortly after her graduation from Central Saint Martins in 2014, was a menswear gamechanger, injecting European heritage tailoring with an Afro-Atlantic spirit. Then Wales Bonner shifted the conversation on, bringing her tailoring perspective to womenswear. Next, her on-going collaboration with adidas Originals did something extraordinary from the get-go, igniting the current frenzy for Samba sneakers, which shows no signs of slowing down.
The collaboration also looked at the classic codes of an iconic sporting brand with a fresh lens, connecting adidas Originals to roots wider and richer than previously examined. The daunting challenge of reimagining a sport and cultural giant has inspired, rather than fazed Wales Bonner. When it comes to rethinking it all again for AW23, the designer, as is her way, does not waver.
In the latest line-up, she revisits the sneaker du jour once again. The Samba is one of the most talked about sneakers of the past few years. The incredibly famous love to wear them out. The streetwear scene’s biggest names have also taken the old-school hero to their hearts. So, where could you possibly take it next? Wales Bonner’s answer is a brilliantly confident one – so confident, in fact, that it’s the only line in the AW23 collection. The three-stripe silhouette finds new legs (sorry) with contrast-stitch details and playfully elevated materials. The boldest move may be the leopard print Samba, outfitted in fine, faux pony-hair throughout. It’s a move that seems to say that if everyone loves these sneakers, why not make a song and dance about yours?
Classic alternatives, like the “core black” Samba with its oversized tongue, are a love letter to the playground football staple. Similarly, an adidas Originals tracksuit with its iconic three stripe piping is, in the hands of Wales Bonner, both richly nostalgic and lovingly revised. Light colours bring new perspective; the use of nylon is both a charming nod to the collection’s 1990s inspiration and a smart, contemporary sportswear choice.
In a similar way, every new adidas Originals and Wales Bonner collection is a paean to the sporting giant’s rich heritage. Wales Bonner’s work is informed by broad cultural research and embraces a multiplicity of perspectives, some of which she was already examining when the opportunity to collaborate came up. “My work is centred around research, and often involves looking at different archives as a starting point,” she told MR PORTER. “adidas has always felt like a natural partner as it was a present brand in much of my research.”
Wales Bonner has delved into the vast adidas Originals archive, shifting the cultural and artistic focus, while blending textures, silhouettes and graphic prints. This has led to interesting new turns. Previous collections have seen Wales Bonner tune into dancehall music of 1980s Jamaica as an influence and taken her cue from radical thinkers of the same era – artists, poets and scholars from the Caribbean, India, and West Africa. The SS23 collaboration was typical Wales Bonner in that sense, as she peered back further, exploring Jamaican culture in the decade before, with the sartorial groove of Mr Bob Marley much in evidence. For AW23, Wales Bonner moves again, landing in the 1990s.
Drawing up a sartorial representation of a decade that, like the Samba, dominates style currently is no easy task. Where to go next with an era so omnipresent? But Wales Bonner finds fresh perspective, making the reimagining effortless. The pieces, from tracksuits to knitted sets, football shorts to socks, have an ease to them. The lightweight nylon tracksuit in a pale sky hue with reflective piping does say 1990s – but is fantastically relaxed about it.
Colour choices feel significant throughout. Previous collections have been highly energised, in big, bright hues. Here, T-shirts, track tops and cargo pants come in a soft sand, block blacks and mahogany browns. There’s an easy confidence to it all. As if she took the style cues and ran with them. Long may it continue.