J. Cole

In May of this year, the 28-year-old British-Jamaican menswear designer Grace Wales Bonner landed in New York City and made a bold announcement: In the coming days, she would stage Devotional Sound, the second event in her celestial-music series, which would feature Solange and a handful of other artists at a Midtown church, exploring spirituality through music.

A less sophisticated designer might have put it more crassly: a semi-secret Solange concert in less than two days! But New York was primed to speak Wales Bonner's language. By the time news of the event was circulating, it seemed like everyone in the city's fashion, art, and literature communities was tuned in to Wales Bonner. Though the brand is four years old, the runway show the designer had staged in February was a revelation, as her mystical, minimalist clothing—a vision summoned mostly through track pants, sportswear, and tunics—reached a new level of refinement. It had that elusive fashion thing: You just looked at it and wanted to wear it. The New York Times called it “affecting and effective,” with its long tuxedo jackets “some of the most desirable pieces shown all week.” Vogue said the show “crystallized a moment that—in the face of all the negativity elsewhere in the world—felt like a real surge of hope and faith in all the talent and all the intelligence of a new generation of children of the African diaspora taking their place in Britain.” Plus, Naomi Campbell was in the front row. “Support for my island girl!” she said in an Instagram video.

A less sophisticated designer might have put it more crassly: a semi-secret Solange concert in less than two days! But New York was primed to speak Wales Bonner's language. By the time news of the event was circulating, it seemed like everyone in the city's fashion, art, and literature communities was tuned in to Wales Bonner. Though the brand is four years old, the runway show the designer had staged in February was a revelation, as her mystical, minimalist clothing—a vision summoned mostly through track pants, sportswear, and tunics—reached a new level of refinement. It had that elusive fashion thing: You just looked at it and wanted to wear it. The New York Times called it “affecting and effective,” with its long tuxedo jackets “some of the most desirable pieces shown all week.” Vogue said the show “crystallized a moment that—in the face of all the negativity elsewhere in the world—felt like a real surge of hope and faith in all the talent and all the intelligence of a new generation of children of the African diaspora taking their place in Britain.” Plus, Naomi Campbell was in the front row. “Support for my island girl!” she said in an Instagram video.