Wales Bonner Menswear F/W 2024.25 Paris

[vogue28]

VOGUE.COM

 

[90sFan]

J. Crew circa 2004.

 

[Phuel]

This is unfortunate.

Just too dowdy, frumpy, homely and like dusty donation bin scraps cobbled together by the charity workers for a “fashion show” to cheer up the newly arrived refugees. Her usual charm and effortless Crooklyn chic is gone. This half-a55ed offering really just provided exhibit A for all those that never cared for her easygoing vibe as why she’s not a strong designer. Of the entire measly offering, this is the sole, lonesome look that remembers that charm and chic:

VOGUE.COM

 

[jeanclaude]

I didn´t know thrift-shops were allowed to show in Paris menswear schedule...

 

[Lorenzogi]

Why is she even a designer? Very few pieces each time that don't say anything in particular. Very economical with her vision, if she has any.

 

[LadyJunon]

Why is she even a designer? Very few pieces each time that don't say anything in particular. Very economical with her vision, if she has any.

She's a menswear designer with a somewhat successful business, meaning that she can happily exist on autopilot for the next 15 years.

 

[youthinasia]

Wales Bore-ner

 

[Constructionist]

Looks like streetwear clothes from the 90s that were shipped off to a landfill.

Really disappointing collection from a hyped designer.

 

[Cocteau Stone]

Confused as to what the intention is here. It's all just a bit stylistically haphazard in order to cater to a wider audience, which leads this to feeling like an insincere output. Why is that crushed satin dress in here? The boots with Bermuda length shorts? Everything is at odds with each other so none of it really meshes together well.

 

[Kanzai]

Not even on Zara level

 

[Phuel]

...meaning that she can happily exist on autopilot for the next 15 years.

Her damn white button-downs is the equivalent of Marg Simpson resewing her Chanel suit 100 different ways...

It's time to admit that she’s becoming less and less convincing as a designer. But she’s a very solid dressmaker and tailor, of which in these days of overhyped mediocrity masquerading/mistaken as designers, is not a slight on her. I’ll gladly take a talent that’s invested the time, blood, sweat, tears into construction and production of a garment over someone whose Dr Seuss ripoffs are designed by an atelier’s seasoned team. And I’ll always maintain that her quiet, modest and humble approach to fashion is her greatest strength— and understandably her most obvious weakness at this point. Even her best efforts always look and feel incomplete, as if she didn’t have enough funds to fully produce a collection. But now with Adidas money backing her, and the industry hyping her, it’s clear that this is all she’s got. She just doesn’t have the breadth of creative vision— and even perhaps the creative ambition to challenge herself, to expend, evolve and progress beyond this brand of 1970s Crooklyn collegiate ragtag of casualwear. And that’s unfortunate because at her best, her quiet style had/has so much potential. She can only get by on the goodwill of a well-tailored white shirt for so long.

I do adore that camel double-breasted suit jacket with the upturn sleeves. Although, I’d have to get the lining replace with a similar camel-tone bemberg. The way it looks now is just too gimmicky and offsets your arms’ proportion. But her cut of a double-breasted blazer is supreme; that the jacket retains its hourglass shape while unbuttoned showcases she knows her bespoke tailoring. Look at Phoebe’s Color Me Bad version for Edward compared to this, and Grace is superior in every way.

 

[Lola701]

Unfortunately, this collection just confirms my doubts regarding her work.
It’s still very beautiful, beautifully made, approachable but still no identity.
For years, she used a certain types of models to create that « Jamaican uncle » aesthetic as I called it..
Now that she is using different types of models, it’s even harder to have a sense of identity.

That being said, she is talented. Doing menswear and womenswear + being credible in both is not easy. I’m not sure she has found her voice yet.