ESSENCE
Spring – Summer 2021
Wales Bonner presents Essence, the Spring Summer 21 collection, launching as a digital presentation at Paris Fashion Week alongside the premiere of Thinkin Home, an original film by the Jamaican artist Jeano Edwards and the offering of a digital publication entitled Reflections on Essence.
Essence Spring Summer 21 Menswear and Womenswear Collection
The Essence collection is the second in a triptych of collections by Wales Bonner that explore the diasporic connections between Britain and the Caribbean. Where the first collection Lovers Rock, Autumn Winter 20,
reflected the British Jamaican community in London in the seventies, Essence explores the early eighties origination of dancehall music in Jamaica.
Essence serves as an exercise in refinement – to the purest elements of the Wales Bonner world and wardrobe. Tailoring is ever present, evoking British morning dress, romanticized with magical, found buttons. Shirtmaking is prominent, inspired by Jermyn Street makers and manifesting the relaxed elegance of Augustus Pablo’s iconic dress. There is a dancehall vibrancy to the collection; the hybrid sports tailoring enhanced with striped satin, elevated jockey silks and patchworked corduroy in electric blue.
The Harder They Come, serves as a reference for the softer colour palette, revealed in a continued collaboration with adidas Originals introducing slimline tracksuits in pink and ivory crochet, canvas and leather plimsolls and ivory topstitched football boots. There is an effortless ease and evening sensibility to the everyday here – from the cedar brown striped tailoring wool, to the striped crepe pyjamas crafted with frayed finishings. Silhouettes are presented with a fluidity that works for both menswear and womenswear, a uniformity presented in military detailing and gold emblems. The collection also sees the development of the women’s character, expressed with the intimate sensuality of silk and crochet dresses. The sun is shining.
