The upcoming edition of the men’s trade show will run June 14 to 17 at the Fortezza da Basso.

Pitti Uomo Readies Summer Edition With Wales Bonner, Soulland, Ann Demeulemeester

Image: Wales Bonner by Malick Bodian

British menswear designer Grace Wales Bonner will be trade show Pitti Uomo’s guest designer for its 102nd edition in Florence this June.
Wales Bonner will present the spring/summer 2023 collection for her eponymous label with a fashion show-event in a location that has yet to be revealed.
Pitti Immagine's communication and special events director, Lapo Cianchi, said in a statement: “We have been familiar with the work of Grace Wales Bonner since she first debuted. Attracted first and foremost by her cultural sensibility and multidisciplinary approach that comes across in her collaborations with artists and other stylists, while appearing in each one of her collections.
“We then followed the evolution of her menswear fashion proposal, the gradual grafting of the elegant sartorial structure on the development of fashion design and sportswear elements, a style which, if borrowed from the world of music, could even be called soul.”
Commenting on the opportunity, Wales Bonner added: “I welcome this special opportunity to express Wales Bonner’s vision of cultural luxury at the historically important institution of Pitti Uomo.”
The 102nd edition of Pitti Uomo runs from June 14 to 17.

Pitti Uomo announces Grace Wales Bonner as guest designer

A new exhibition at the V&A suggests menswear has always been radical. We compare past and present
© Tom Hibbert/Birmingham Museums Trust, licensed under CCO
We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Menswear news every morning. One of the most exciting names in fashion at the moment is Harris Reed , a 25-year-old British-American who has enjoyed huge success since graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2020. His designs – worn by Harry Styles, Sam Smith, Iman and Emma Corrin – include architectural suits, pussy-bow blouses and tiered dresses . Deliberately non-gendered, they have struck a chord with an audience keen to blur the binaries of fashion. While Reed’s designs challenge what we often deem “masculine” and “feminine”, as well as encouraging a more outlandish way of dressing, the idea isn’t new. That menswear has historically played with codes typically seen as gendered is a theme central to a new exhibition at the V&A. Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear opens this month investigating male clothing found across its vast collection. It opens with a sculptural piece by London-based designer Craig Green and balances a new generation of names such as Edward Crutchley and Grace Wales Bonner alongside fashion’s most significant disrupters, among them Tom Ford, Hedi Slimane, Miuccia Prada (including Gary Oldman’s runway outfit from AW12) and Alexander “Lee” McQueen. There are also items such as a breastplate from 1565 and a teapot by potter James Hadley from 1881, artworks by Rodin, Degas and Joshua Reynolds, and Matthew Bourne’s Spitfire , featuring his dancers performing in white underwear. Emmanuel wears Wales Bonner suede trench and linen trousers, both POA. Salvatore Ferragamo knitted cotton polo shirt, £630. GH Bass leather Weejuns Larson penny loafers, £150. Gucci acetate sunglasses, £330. Socks and earring, stylist’s own © Tom Hibbert
Portrait of Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Bellamont, in Robes of the Order of the Bath, c1773-74, by Joshua Reynolds © National Gallery of Ireland
The curators have used the exhibition – split into Undressed, Overdressed and Redressed sections – to draw comparisons between past and present. One of Reed’s pieces, a pink lamé puff-sleeved top with skintight matching flares and a French lace cravat, which the designer describes as “Victorian-esque meets Studio 54”, is compared to a painting by Joshua Reynolds from 1773-74 depicting Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Bellamont, in a white-feathered headdress and floor-length red cape (that over time has faded to pink). “In choosing our garments, we wanted to find historical examples that show how individuals have been dressing in fluid ways for as long as individuals have been dressing,” says co-curator Rosalind McKever. “And how there are various motivations for that.” Coote, for example, used his cape to signify power, status, wealth – red was a notoriously expensive shade to produce during this period. She also notes a set of colourful men’s silk waistcoats from the 18th century pulled from the V&A collection. “It feels a very interesting time to be thinking about menswear at a moment when the industry is shifting away from binary mens- or womenswear,” says McKever. “These are bright and exciting examples that really resonate with our contemporary questions around men’s fashion. If we’re talking about bravery, these are extraordinarily bold.”
Young Man Among Roses, c1587, by Nicholas Hilliard © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Freddie wears Wales Bonner linen Segoù jacket, £795. Petit Bateau cotton T-shirt, £17. Giorgio Armani linen and viscose trousers, £1,200. Gucci acetate Pilot optical glasses, £265 © Tom Hibbert
Think of subversive takes on masculinity and the flamboyant Beau Brummell and his modern counterpart Harry Styles spring to mind. Both are present in the exhibition, including Styles’s blue-velvet Gucci suit from 2019. Claire Wilcox, fashion historian and co-curator, also points to another pairing, a regal SS22 Edward Crutchley dress juxtaposed with a 19th-century dressing gown (made from recycled women’s fabric) as an example of the show’s effort to rethink preconceptions about what men have worn historically, and what they might wear today. “Men have not worn lace or ribbons for 150 years – but wouldn’t it be lovely if they started to again?”
Portrait of a Man, c1805-20, after or possibly by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Portrait of Captain Gilbert Heathcote RN, 1801-05, by William Owen © Birmingham Museums Trust, licensed under CCO
Emmanuel wears Louis Vuitton wool coat, £4,450, leather blouson, £5,250, and leather tracksuit trousers, £4,850. Petit Bateau cotton T-shirt, £17. Lucy Barlow wool felt Uptown Rocker hat, POA. Port Tanger acetate Mektoub sunglasses, £240. Earring, stylist’s own © Tom Hibbert
Another portrait, from the court of James I, depicts Dudley, 3rd Baron North in an all-black outfit featuring a doublet and breeches that billow out. It is echoed in a leather womenswear look from 1992 by Gianni Versace (the late designer was a regular visitor to the V&A). McKever uses it as an example of a contemporary designer reimagining historical menswear as womenswear. Add to this footage of Tilda Swinton as Orlando, in Sally Potter’s 1992 film based on Virginia Woolf’s gender-explorative novel, and the ideas around fluidity in fashion are laid bare. Tailoring has gone back and forth on a spectrum throughout history, between Brummell’s dandy to the loose power suits of the ’80s
The collections for SS22 also reflect a braver spirit: clothes have been slashed to be more revealing, shirts are festooned in patterns, shorts have voluminous proportions and, in some circumstances, there are skirts too. There’s also been an increase in men buying statement jewellery, carrying bags usually categorised as “women’s handbags”, and wearing richer colours. Freddie wears Sandro cotton jumper, £269. Gucci barathea and satin trousers, £865. GH Bass leather Weejuns Larson penny loafers, £150. Lucy Barlow terry-towelling Baker Boy cap, POA. Gucci acetate Pilot optical glasses, £265 © Tom Hibbert
The Tailor, 1565-70, by Giovanni Battista Moroni © The National Gallery, London
Jonathan Anderson is one of the most notable designers in recent years to embrace more experimentation with menswear, and the bandeau top and ruffled hemmed shorts that he offered for his landmark AW13 collection for JW Anderson are also featured in the exhibition. At the time, the collection was seen by many as a provocation. In hindsight, his intuition for the shift in mindset casts him as a non-binary pioneer. “When I did that collection the response to it was quite radical,” says Anderson. “It pushed a lot of buttons. But I realised that there was something missing in the zeitgeist that wasn’t being talked about. That collection was so blunt, uncompromising and unapologetic. It was really about self-expression and glorifying the idea that you [the consumer] make the [wardrobe] choices, not me.” 
 An 1881 James Hadley teapot © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The show also champions the idea that menswear designers should be given equal creative licence as their counterparts in womenswear. “When we thought of fashion 10 years ago, the focus was always on womenswear and runway shows that focused on womenswear,” says London designer Priya Ahluwalia , who works with vivid graphics and upcycled fabrics, and brings her Nigerian and Indian heritage into both her mens- and womenswear designs. “Men are becoming more experimental with what they want to wear, how they use clothes to express themselves and what they are willing to experiment with. I think it’s really signalling a turning point.”
Donatella Versace agrees. “I have always believed that menswear was as important as womenswear,” she says. “Culturally speaking, men took a bit longer than women to be able to play with their image and use their style choices to tell something about themselves and their personality. Tackling menswear is very different from womenswear. You can push boundaries up to a point and changes are slower to happen, but this does not mean it is less fun.”
Noah wears Hermès cotton poplin shirt, £1,530. Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello jacquard trousers, £925. Valette eco-responsible cotton crochet hat, £275. Port Tanger acetate sunglasses, £240 © Tom Hibbert
Young Man in a White Ruff, unknown artist (after Moroni), c1580-1600 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Even tailoring – that cornerstone of the male wardrobe – has gone back and forth on a spectrum throughout history, between Brummell’s dandy to the loose power suits of the ’80s or the ultra-skinny fit of Hedi Slimane’s tenure at Dior. Today’s suits range from Thom Browne , whose sober grey suits are shrunken to dramatic effect and are designed to be worn by either men or women, to Grace Wales Bonner, who fuses the traditions of Savile Row tailoring with sportswear codes. For her, clothes are all about self-possession and their transformative qualities – how certain things can alter the way you feel. “I remember some of the models at my shows,” says Wales Bonner, “I would put them in a suit, and they would carry themselves completely differently. They’d feel like a prince.”
Noah wears Gucci fluid barathea and satin jacket, £775. Wales Bonner linen shorts, £50. Port Tanger acetate sunglasses, £240. Prada nylon bag, £1,400. Emmanuel wears Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello crepe de chine shirt, £865. Brioni denim trousers, £640. Gucci acetate sunglasses, £330 © Tom Hibbert
“I think there is genuine change,” says Wilcox of the current shifts in fashion. She applauds the prominence of people using fashion for self-expression, such as actor Billy Porter wearing dresses on the red carpet, or Schitt’s Creek star Dan Levy making an LGBT+ statement in a custom outfit featuring adapted works by American artist and Aids activist David Wojnarowicz, in collaboration with Jonathan Anderson at Loewe. Recommended
Perhaps the most exciting thing about menswear in this moment is its breadth of self-expression, be it political and/or flamboyant, sexy and/or glamorous, strong and/or fluid, or any various combination of those themes. I ask Wilcox how she hopes the V&A show might make an impact. She replies: “I really hope that it unlocks the dressing-up box for men.”
Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 19 March–6 November. In partnership with Gucci. Casting, Sarah Booth at Ben Grimes Casting. Hair, Yumi Nakada Dingle at Management Artists. Make-up, Bari Khalique, using SS22 La Pausa de Chanel and Chanel Hydra Beauty. Set design, Josh Stovell at Saint Luke. Photographer’s assistants, Ivano Pagnussat, Charlotte Ellis and Rob Palmer. Stylist’s assistant, Ady Huq. Hair assistant, Yuri Kato. Set design assistant, Rufus Wilkinson. Production, Kit Pak Poy at Artworld 
Get alerts on Menswear when a new story is published
Get alerts

Gender fluidity in fashion is older than you think

Image: Farfetch

Luxury fashion platform Farfetch is launching a new initiative called ‘Farfetch Futures’ to champion designers from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds with commercial, marketing, content and technology support.
‘Farfetch Futures’ is a continuation of its work to support and promote Black designers since 2020, which has seen gross merchandise value (GMV) from brands in the Black designer edit on the Farfetch marketplace increase by 66 percent on 2019.
The scheme aims to increase the visibility and awareness of under-represented talent and communities in the fashion industry, explains Farfetch, by providing them with business support and greater visibility across the Farfetch network to “advance their brand vision, growth and commercial success”.

  
  Image: Farfetch

British designer Grace Wales Bonner has been selected as the launch partner for ‘Farfetch Futures’ and exclusive pieces from her Wales Bonner spring/summer 2022 collection will be featured alongside a project inspired by West African style.
Commenting on the project, Grace Wales Bonner, founder of Wales Bonner, said in a statement: “I am excited to partner with Farfetch as part of their Farfetch Futures programme as it’s important that designers from a range of cultural and traditional backgrounds are given a platform.
“Wales Bonner embraces a multiplicity of perspectives, infusing European luxury with an Afro-Atlantic spirit, reflecting timeless beauty and offering meaningful experiences informed by broad research, critical theory, musical composition, literature and history. I am grateful for Farfetch’s support of Wales Bonner's mission.”
Ronojoy Dam, global brand and culture director at Farfetch, added: “Farfetch is a luxury platform that celebrates global style and cultural exchange. Racial diversity and equity is fundamental to this. Fashion needs diversity of people, ideas and inspiration to thrive. We are absolutely committed to this and we hope we can help in our small way to nurture and ensure this in both a business and culture-positive way.”

  
  Image: Farfetch

Farfetch launches initiative to champion Black and ethnic minority designers

Other brands offering exclusive collections for Vault are ERL, Wales Bonner, Martine Rose and Vans.

Gucci Vault Expands Offer With Limited Edition Capsules From Delvaux, Charvet

Adidas is a German multinational corporation, headquartered in Herzogenrath, Germany, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories.

Adidas

Adidas has launched its new collaboration collection with British designer label Wales Bonner .

Wells Fargo Success Story

3M Success Story

Platform Overview

Wales Bonner

Stage

Total Raised

Last Raised

About Wales Bonner

Wales Bonner Headquarter Location

Predict your next investment

Latest Wales Bonner News

Wales Bonner Web Traffic

Wales Bonner Rank

Discover the right solution for your team