Fashion in Motion with Grace Wales Bonner at the V&A

Grace Wales Bonner is a recent graduate from Central Saint Martins who was awarded the 2014 L'Oreal Professional Talent Award and showed her Autumn/Winter 2015 collection at Fashion East Man.  It's exciting to see such a young designer getting so much attention: Grace is 23 and just showcased her work  at the V&A as part of Fashion In Motion!  Her collection, Ebonics plays with the idea of what is authentic black masculinity. Many of the garments are embellished with Swarovski crystals and bejewelled accessories - there are head pieces and handbags worn with soft suits in mohair, cream bouclé suits, high-waisted flares plus leather jackets. There was live music from the St. James Catholic Church Choir performing the choral music of Giovanni Palestrina's Babylon to Western re-working of black spiritual & revolutionary music.  It was warm, powerful and eerie all at the same time. The music combined with the movements of the models created a powerful environment. The room was full to capacity and the audience seemed perfectly still & silent as we were challenged to look at our own ideas of how we define black masculinity.