Grace Wales Bonner wins the Emerging Design Medal for her outstanding fashion design
Grace Wales Bonner is no ordinary menswear fashion designer. Her practice encompasses critical theory, literature and historical sources, allowing her practice to flourish with a collision of cultures. Grace’s work is fuelled by her father’s Jamaican heritage, sparking an interest in black male identity across history. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Grace has been awarded the medal for Emerging Design at this year’s London Design Medals.
Graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2014, just one year later Grace was awarded Emerging Menswear Designer at the British Fashion Awards, closely followed by the LVMH Young Designer Prize for her intersectional depictions of menswear. Grace’s collections are styled predominantly on non-white models and the designs feature a hybridity of historical influences reflected in the diverse range of garments that encompass a fluid, male identity.
Other winners of this year’s London Design Medals include Hussein Chalayan for the Panerai London Design Medal; past winners include Thomas Heatherwich and Zaha Hadid. Furthermore, Neru Oxman wins the Design Innovation Medal and finally, Eva Jiřičná for the Lifetime Achievement Medal; past winners including Dieter Rams and Vidal Sassoon.
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Jynann joined It’s Nice That as an editorial assistant in August 2018 after graduating from The Glasgow School of Art’s Communication Design degree. In March 2019 she became a staff writer and in June 2021, she was made associate editor. She went freelance in 2022.