At London Fashion Week in January, the young and promising British fashion designer Grace WALES BONNER gave us a preview of her upcoming collaboration with the German giant adidas. Two classic silhouettes, the Samba running shoe and the retro SL72 were revisited in a spirit of vintage and elegance.
Grace WALES BONNER is a 29-year-old British fashion designer born to an English mother and a Jamaican father. With her Autumn/Winter 2020 collection called « Lover’s Rock » (the name of a romantic reggae music style born in London in the 1970s), which includes pieces designed in collaboration with adidas, she wanted to pay homage to her origins and explore the lifestyle of the generation of British people who came from the Caribbean in the 1970s. After winning critical acclaim and prestigious awards in 2014 and 2015, Grace Wales Bonner received the LVMH prize in 2016 for her collection evoking the 1930 coronation of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, an interesting boost to the development of her brand. For the anecdote, the wife of Prince Harry of England, Meghan Markle, chose one of his designs, a white dress, to introduce her son Archie to the photographers. A good publicity stunt bringing greater visibility to the WALES BONNER brand.
The Samba shoe is available in two colorways : black/white and white/brown. We find, in part, the aesthetics seen on the clothes of the 2016 collection paying homage to Haile Selassie, from the accents sewn by hand, embroidery and crochet details.
The black pair is embellished with three adidas side stripes elegantly crocheted with white yarn and drawing meticulous patterns. Similar design details adorn the heel and upper tongue seam. To highlight this neat and retro touch, apart from the white inner lining, the rest of the shoe is black : the long and foldable tongue, a reference to the Samba soccer heritage, the laces and the sole.
The white pair consists of a perforated white raw cotton upper with the 3 adidas brown leather side stripes and an overlay on the toe area in a matching color. The white tongue and hell tab, as well as the white suede laceguard and tone-on-tone laces bring lifestyle style to this iteration. As on the black pair, there are stitching details in the heel area, here in brown color. The whole is based on a totally white sole, thus completing the elegant and neat design.
The SL72 sneaker is available in two colorways : burgundy-violin/brown/aged orange and dark brown/teal blue/beige. These color combinations are inspired by the fashion trends of the 70s. Unlike the Samba, these shoes do not have embroidery or stitching details, they have a simple but neat design. They consist of an upper combining antique leather, suede and nylon, accentuating the retro look of the silhouette and reminiscent of the sportswear of the 70’s. To add an authentic touch, the inner lining is made of satin, brown for the teal blue pair and aged orange for the burgundy-violet iteration, so the 3 adidas side stripes are made of yellowed off-white and aged orange leather respectively. The whole is based on a white midsole with a pink or turquoise upper stripe depending on the iteration, combined with a notched outsole in matching color with the vamp.
On the 4 pairs, we find the brandings coupled on the tongue label and on the bright orange insole. This collaboration is completed by a textile collection designed in partnership in the same retro 70’s spirit.
The Pack WALES BONNER x adidas Samba & SL72 will release on November 20, 2020 on adidas.com and at selected retailers such as END. via a raffle with opening registration launches.endclothing.com.
Some pairs were released exclusively at La Garçonne and 24S stores
