Fresh from taking our breath away at London Collections: Men with her carefully crafted, considered, character-filled solo debut show, Grace Wales Bonner has won the prestigious (and highly profitable) LVMH Prize in Paris this afternoon.
From the moment she graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2014, a softness and sensitivity has drawn the industry in to her work. As she travels through time, continents, and cultures, her narrative manages to playfully pause the usual blink-and-you’ll-miss-them blur of boys. Instead, we lose ourselves in her world. Almost as much an artist, ethnographer, poet, dreamer, and academic as she is a fashion designer, her craft celebrates, confronts, and challenges cultural codes. The moments she makes manage to last longer than an Insta-scroll and transcend the rag trade because they force you to truly look, feel, think, and react. In Grace’s hands, the catwalk becomes a ceremony in which her characters coax us deeper inside her captivating narrative. Now, as her spring/summer 17 collection, Ezekiel, lingers on our minds, it’s pleasing to see this talent receive the recognition she deserves.
The decision was made by a jury of industry icons and insi-Ders including Jonathan Anderson, Nicolas Ghesquière, Marc Jacobs, Karl Lagerfeld, Humberto Leon, Carol Lim, Phoebe Philo, and Riccardo Tisci — as well as Delphine Arnault, Jean-Paul Claverie, and Pierre-Yves Roussel of LVMH. Wales Bonner receives the nod over fellow finalists Aalto, Alyx, Brandon Maxwell, Facetasm, Koché and Y/Project, while Toronto-based label Vejas is awarded the Special Prize.