Wales Bonner Spring Summer 2024 at Paris Fashion Week Men’s presents Marathon
Marathon, Reflections of a long distance runner: the silent messenger, the unwavering spirit striding, soaring. Words of upliftment arrive from the legendary runners of Ethiopia and Kenya. With eyes fixed on the horizon and legs carried by belief, Gebreselassie, Dibaba, and Kipchoge issue a call to continue and never stray. Following in their footsteps, the Wales Bonner Spring Summer 2024 collection becomes an ode to long journeys and life missions. A celebration of soulful pursuits and inspired movement.
Holistic commitment is felt throughout the collection with hand-making techniques honed over generations.
Precious time is imbued in Tibeb fabric woven by artisans in Addis Ababa. Raffia is hand-embroidered on skirts and vests in a disrupted animal print motif, while intricate stud and bead stripes detail womenswear tailoring. Macrame net vests and skirts made from beads in Ghanaian artisanal glass and sonorous silver echo the calabash instrument.
The sounds reverberate until consistent practice creates an unconscious rhythm—the point where mantras repeat without effort, where routine transcends to a tranquil flow.
Passages over the hills are imagined in silhouettes between shepherd and equestrian: check outerwear, rawhide skirts, bouclé knitwear, and calfskin riding boots made in partnership with Himco in Italy. Telluric wonders continue with cheetah printed cowhide and tailoring in horsehair canvas. This season, sheepskin-lined loafers from UGG round out an offering for restful interludes.
The codes of Wales Bonner remain steadfast: signature shirting is issued in gradient stripes, while hybrid tailoring in earthen brown wool is enlivened by radiant blue satin and sportswear finishes. Meanwhile, the ongoing partnership with adidas Originals yields a sporty fluorescence and futurity in harmony with Mac coats and British checks. Special tribute is paid to Haile Gebreselassie’s winning run at the Berlin Marathon in 2008, with a replica of his adidas Neftenga shoe signed with the world-record breaking time.
At the 1960 Olympics in Rome, animated crowds rejoice in Abebe Bikila’s moonlit triumph. Victory celebrations see Savile Row tailoring, produced in partnership with Anderson and Shepard, accentuated by raw silk and woven gold buttons. Celebrations of Africa’s first medalist, storied evenings in draped satin dresses, ceremonial necklaces in semi-precious carnelian and jade stone: for courage, serenity, and balance.
“That’s the long distance runner, the quietness is loud too” – David Hammons, 1994.
Mastery and commitment are again celebrated in the musical programme. The soundtrack is produced by James William Blades and Grace Wales Bonner, featuring Ethiopian artist HaddinQo performing live on the traditional Masinqo stringed instrument. The show music also includes a contribution from Hama, a multi-instrumentalist from Niger signed to the Sahel Sounds record label. His expansive synthesizer compositions accompany a set from Kenyan artist DJ Boboss, a sound system pioneer with pure eclecticism and a singular craft. An array of sounds—ancestral groove, future visions— dancing together.
HAMA
Hama is a multi-instrumentalist and electronic synthesizer composer from the Republic of Niger. His music has enjoyed wide acclaim throughout the country through his underground releases of unlabeled digital recordings on memory cards. Creating at the convergence of disparate influences, such as North African instrumental synth, Tuareg tishumaren, 90s Nigerién Hip Hop and second wave Detroit techno, Hama composes music that is futuristic and rooted in tradition, transmitting Tuareg guitar into the 21st Century.
SAHEL SOUNDS
Sahel Sounds is a project focused on culture in the West African Sahel. Sahel Sounds began as a blog by label founder Christopher Kirkley in 2009 to share field recordings. Today, it is a record label, artist collective, film production house, and arts organization. We work directly with artists that we represent and aim to have input and on artistic endeavours and help our artists build careers.
DJ BOBOSS
DJ Boboss, Paul Mwangi, is a Kenya multidisciplinary artist who has fused tech with his love for music to make his own DJ mixer. DJ Boboss’ love for music started all the way back from his childhood years watching his father collect music and thus music has always been around him.
Growing up, DJ Boboss would always see DJs around him and how they always livened up crowds. Not being able to reach a mixer made him get the idea to make his own and after a couple of trials, he was out in the streets playing for crowds with his homemade setup. DJ Boboss has gone ahead to play all over the country up to recently performing a set at Boiler Room and sharing his art and pieces all over the world through his digital presence. He is currently working on a new version of his mixer and making an international tour.
JAMES WILLIAM BLADES
James Wiliam Blades is a composer and producer based in New York, working primarily as a film composer. James’ scores explore the use of timbre, harmony and musical aesthetics relating to sonic narratives. His detailed musical productions aim to develop sonic landscapes that create new moods and new meanings.
HADDIS ALEMAYEHU
Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1991, Haddis Alemayehu is a professional MasinQo player. He began teaching himself the instrument in 2008, at the age of seventeen, before seeking out mature players who shared with him the intricacies of this instrument, a single-stringed bowed lute commonly found in the musical traditions of Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Since then, HaddinQo has been leading the revival of the MasinQo in the context of the Ethiopian Jazz and Pop music scene, playing live performances with some of Ethiopia’s most famous artists, including the legendary singer Gash Mahmoud Ahmed, composer Dr. Mulatu Astatke (considered as the “father of Ethio-jazz”), and renowned Kirar musician and singer Seleshi Demise (A.K.A. Gash Abera Molla), as well as major pop stars including Teddy Afro (Honorary Dr.) and Betty G. He is also a founding member of the Moseb Music Group (known to be one of the leading music groups in the country which performs regularly at Ethiopia’s National Theater.)
TAMIRAT TOLA ABERA
Tamirat Tola Abera is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in track, road and cross country events. He won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Tamirat competed in the marathon at the 2017 and 2022 World Athletics Championships, earning silver and gold respectively, setting a championship record at the latter in the process. He finished third at the 2021 Tokyo and 2023 London Marathon.
YOMIF KEJELCHA ATOMSA
Yomif Kejelcha Atomsa won the silver medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships and gold medals for the 3,000 metres at the 2016 and 2018 World Indoor Championships. Kejelcha is the world indoor record holder for the mile with a time of 3:47.01, set on 3 March 2019 in Boston. He was the 2013 World Youth 3,000 metres champion and 2014 World Junior 5,000 metres gold medallist.
ABOUT WALES BONNER
Wales Bonner proposes a distinct notion of cultural luxury that infuses European heritage with an Afro Atlantic spirit.
Launched by Grace Wales Bonner following her graduation from Central Saint Martins in 2014, the label is informed by broad cultural research and embraces a multiplicity of perspectives. Established as a menswear brand, Wales Bonner’s soulful tailoring soon expanded to womenswear. Grace Wales Bonner has received numerous awards including Emerging Menswear Designer at the British Fashion Awards (2015), the LVMH Young Designer Prize (2016), Winner of the British Fashion Council / Vogue Designer Fashion Fund (2019), CFDA International Men’s Designer of the Year (2021) and the Fashion Awards British Independent Brand (2022).
In 2019, Grace was invited by Maria Grazia Chiuri to collaborate with Dior to re-interpret the house’s New Look silhouette for its Resort 2020 collection. In the same year, she curated an institutional exhibition, A Time for New Dreams, at Serpentine Galleries, London. Grace is Head of the Department of Fashion Design at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna.
Wales Bonner stockists include Matchesfashion.com, Net-a-Porter, Mr. Porter, Selfridges, Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom, Saks 5th Avenue, Boon the Shop, and Dover Street Market International.
Credits to Wales Bonner Spring Summer 2024 at Paris Fashion Week Men’s
Creative Direction ISSTUDIO
Styling TOM GUINNESS
Show Production GW+
Local Production KITTY EVENTS
Casting ESTABLISHMENT
Lighting Design LIGHTLAB
Movement Direction MJ HARPER
Music Director and Music Production
JAMES WILLIAM BLADES at Interlude Sounds
Film TITRE PROVISOIRE
Film Edit PARALLAX
Makeup LAUREN PARSONS
at Art Partner using Sisley Paris
Hair CYNDIA HARVEY
at Art Partner using Hair Rituel by Sisley
WALES BONNER mainline footwear produced in
partnership with HIMCO
PR Agency PR Consulting Paris
Bibliography
Crawley, Michael. Out of Thin Air: Running Wisdom and Magic from Above the Clouds in Ethiopia. London: Bloomsbury, 2022.
Finn, Adharanand. Running with the Kenyans: Discovering the secrets of the fastest people on Earth. London: Faber, 2013.
Girma, Mohammed. “Whose Meaning? The Wax and Gold Tradition as a Philosophical Foundation for an Ethiopian Hermeneutic.” Sophia 50, no. 1 (2010): 175–87. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-010-0201-9.
Hammons, David. Yardbird Suite, Hammons 93. Edited by Deborah Menaker Rothschild and David L. Smith. Williamstown, MA: Williams College Museum of Art, 1994.
Thiong’o, Ngugı wa. The River Between. London, Ibadan, Nairobi: Heinemann Educational Books, 1973.
Toomer, Jean, and Darwin T. Turner. The Wayward and the Seeking: A Collection of Writings by Jean Toomer. Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press, 1982.
Ichikawa, Kon, dir. Tokyo Olympiad. 1965; Osaka, Toho Co. Ltd. [film]
Woodhead, Leslie, dir. Endurance. 1998; Burbank, Walt Disney Pictures. [film]