Grace Wales Bonner’s fall 2025 collection is inspired, in part, by imagery. The English designer debuted her latest lineup yesterday at Paris Fashion Week, marking the first time Wales Bonner has featured only womenswear in a collection. The clothes explore new glamour with an eye toward the documented past.
There’s a ’70s sensibility to the designs, one which screams loudest in the form of knitted fringe and a collared dress. In the show notes, Wales Bonner explains it was the allure of archival images from Ebony and Jet magazines that initially brought her to that era. One specific black-and-white photograph takes center stage on a T-shirt designed for the collection. The headshot was taken by photographer Moneta J. Sleet Jr. during his time at Ebony; Wales Bonner found it through The Black Image Corporation, a conceptual project founded by artist Theaster Gates. The Corp. highlights the archive and legacy of Johnson Publishing Company, the original owner of both Ebony and Jet.
In addition to Gates, Wales Bonner also worked with England-based clothier Crombie Ltd. on a wool grate coat, as well as Savile Row tailors Anderson and Sheppard on a reimagined cavalry uniform featuring embossed gold buttons. In these pieces, utility meets elegance—and Wales Bonner’s strength in menswear fuses with more feminine designs. Per usual, craft and materiality are at the forefront. Leather is formed into a sweet, knee-length dress with an A-line skirt, or topped with a collar of soft shearling. A heavy knit sweater dress falls off the shoulder with ease, while colorful macramé fringe dances around the model’s legs.
Whether sourcing fabric or collaborators, Wales Bonner never cuts corners, and that fact is clear in this collection. The designer’s continued grasp on womenswear and how women today want to present themselves to the world is still going strong. The pieces are simple but tough, not demure. They’re for women with strong convictions, just like Wales Bonner herself.
