This hardcore tropical Wales Bonner collection was colored by the archive of Althea McNish, who emigrated from Trinidad to the UK aged 27 in 1950. McNish’s talent for graphic design and longing for home combined to fuel the saturated intensity of her textiles, which proved highly successful commissions for English interiors stalwarts such as Heal’s and Liberty. During her research, Wales Bonner was, thanks to McNish’s estate, even able to to inspect the late designer’s own wardrobe—which led to the development of a gorgeous belted skirt based on a McNish-worn dress.
Wales Bonner’s retracing and retelling of McNish’s creative journey saw her embellish the original prints in embroideries on camp collar shirts and hip-slung skirts, or use embroidery on otherwise white garments as a sort of inverted footprint. It also provided the entry point into a suggestive yet subtle Wales Bonner voyage based around maritime cities. The new-profile black-sequined Adidas sneakers, the black leather rivet-patched shorts, and the cropped black heavy nylon workwear all gleamed in movement like the shine of harborside lighting reflected in the sea beyond. Marine striped knitwear and formal evening wear suiting and outerwear tailored with house partners Anderson & Sheppard or Crombie were all minutely subverted through tweaks in reduced proportion or unorthodox materiality to create an opaquely palpable otherness.
The designer said this collection featured proportionally more womenswear than in the past, adding, “it’s a growing part of our business.” The absolute exactitude in her delivery of a perforated stretch knit tank dress, or a net-sheathed monochrome print dress—more chiaroscuro—provided evidence as to why. Adidas-wise, the high-top but low profile suede upper applied to the classic scallop-toe Superstar was another example of Wales Bonner’s talent for apparently minute yet transformative design interventions.