2021 was a big year for fashion. Despite the challenges that the industry has faced amidst the pandemic, designers have worked incredibly hard to make their mark and as a result, we’ve seen some truly unforgettable collections come to life.
With 2022 underway, we take a look at emerging black designers that we expect to make some truly big movements this year. This is part 1 – where we present a list of UK-based talent. Make sure to check out check out part 2, where we look at 5 emerging black designers based in Africa and the USA.
1. Grace Wales Bonner (@walesbonner)
Grace Wales Bonner is a British-Jamaican fashion designer born in South London, whose work “addresses the politics of identity, sexuality, and race through projects that delicately balance multinationalism with a sense of personal subjectivity”. Her designs are characterised by a blend of sportswear and tailoring and her interest in making everyday clothes, such as the tracksuit, more elegant.
Following her graduation from Central Saint Martins in 2014 (the prestigious school that gave rise to Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and more) she launched her label – Wales Bonner. And it’s safe to say that Grace has certainly been putting in work! Let’s take a quick look at some of her accomplishments to date:
- In 2015 she was awarded Emerging Menswear Designer at the British Fashion Awards.
- In 2016 she was awarded the LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy) Young Designer Prize. after her first solo runway presentation — “Ezekiel”
- In 2017 she was voted number 41 on the Dazed 100 list
- In 2019 she curated her debut show “A Time For New Dreams” (the name inspired by a collection of essays by Ben Okri, a Nigerian writer). The same year, she collaborate with Dior and won the BFC (British Fashion Council) / Vogue Designer Fashion Fund.
- In 2020 she was identified as one of the most influential people of African or African Caribbean heritage in the UK with her inclusion in the 2021 edition of the annual Powerlist.
- In 2021 she collaborated with Adidas on 3 collections inspired by: London’s Black community in the 1970s, the Jamaican dancehall scene and Black intellectualism respectively.
At this point, we think it’s safe to say that Grace has the golden touch! Her work continues to offer a refreshing take on black masculinity and she continues to assist and educate up and coming black talent (such as Maximillian Davis – whom we discuss further below).
2. Mowalola Ogunlesi (@mowalola)
Mowalola Ogunlesi is a Nigerian-born fashion designer that is currently based in London. She is known for working with a wide variety of textiles such as leather and PVC to produce non-traditional silhouettes that are inspired by Nigerian and London youth culture.
She grew up in Nigeria and moved to the UK at 12 to go to boarding school in the Surrey countryside. Her parents are both fashion designers (her father creates traditional Nigerian menswear while her mother specialises in children’s clothing), so it’s safe to say fashion is in her blood.
Mowalola attended Central Saint Martins her graduate collection (which she presented in 2017) was titled “Psychedelic”. The collection was influenced by Lagos petrol-heads and the country’s psychedelic rock scene in the ‘70s. She described the collection as “unapologetically black and pan-African.”
Following her graduation, she applied to the Fashion East programme (a talent incubator that helps nurture emerging UK-based fashion designers) and she made her London Fashion Week debut in 2019. After impressing the likes of Skepta and Kim Jones (the creative director of Dior) she began to gain significant traction within the British fashion scene – and it was all up for Mowalola from here!
- She worked with Nike to design the Nigerian football team’s uniform for the World Cup.
- She created outfits for Skepta’s “Pure Water” music video.
- She was one of six designers picked by British Vogue to dress the 60th anniversary Barbie.
- Kanye West appointed her as Design Director of the Yeezy Gap 10-year partnership (following its official announcement on June 26, 2020.)
Mowalola certainly has something to brag about! She has a very distinct take on Afro-futuristic fashion that is sexy, psychedelic and gender-fluid. We can’t wait to see what 2022 has in store for this talented designer – this designer is definitely one to watch.
3. Maximilian Davis (@_mvximilian_)
Maximilian Davis was born in Manchester into a large Afro-Caribbean family. Both pairs of grandparents moved to the United Kingdom —his father’s family from Jamaica and his mother’s family from Trinidad.
Following in the footsteps of both his father and sister, Maximilian studied womenswear at Manchester College. While neither his sister nor father remained in the industry, Maximilian moved to London soon after graduating to continue at the highly regarded London College of Fashion. During this time, he interned with Grace Wales Bonner (also mentioned in our list of designers to watch this year) and after graduating he joined her team as a junior designer.
Unlike many designers of his generation, he never set out with the intention of owning his own brand — he simply wanted to create and be a part of the process. It was actually his best friend, fellow London-based designer Mowalola Ogunlesi, who encouraged him to put together his first collection. And so, with nothing to lose, he applied and was successfully accepted onto the Fashion East programme. With their help, he launched his brand digitally in September 2020.
His debut collection drew inspiration from the Trinidadian Carnival, weaving in family memories of travelling to the Caribbean to participate in the celebrations. It quickly received attention from the likes of ASAP Rocky, Summer Walker and more for its seamless blend of femininity with androgyny, and wearability with sexiness that, at its core, celebrates black elegance.
While England is where the designer was born and raised, Maximilian recognises that it is his Caribbean heritage that made him the man he is today. Still so early in his journey, we can’t wait to see what aspects of his heritage the young designer will draw on for his next collection. We all know how culturally rich the Caribbean is, so whatever he is next inspired by, it’s bound to be extremely exciting!
4. Jawaraa Alleyne (@jawaraalleyne)
Jawaraa Alleyne is a designer hailing from Jamaica and the Cayman Islands who is currently based in London.
His artistic vision is something he discovered early on in his life. It began with a childhood passion for drawing, and then later developed into a love for fashion. He has been designing clothes since a teen and he created his first collection at just 16 years old in the Cayman Islands.
He moved to London to study fashion where he graduated from the London College of Fashion in 2016. He’s been extremely busy ever since! Not only has he gone on to earn a Masters in Menswear from Central Saint Martins, but he has also co-founded Nii Agency (a London-based modelling agency that is dedicated to diversity), joined the Fashion East programme and debuted at London Fashion Week in September 2021.
Often drawing on techniques traditionally reserved for womenswear, his work challenges ancient and modern meanings of masculinity through the exploration of cultural mythology, largely inspired by his Caribbean heritage. Jawaraa explains “my work has been centred around telling new stories for men and seeing where we can push that narrative to open new possibilities.”
In addition to the rich cultural history and inspiration that Jawara’s Jamaican-Cayman culture provides to his work, the Caribbean ethos of sustainability also plays a significant role. He states that sustainability is something that comes naturally to him as a designer coming from the Caribbean where reusing, repurposing and up-cycling are all heavily embedded in the way the societies were created.
This is clearly reflected in his AW 21 collection, all of which was created during lockdown. Without access to the fabric stores and other places he would normally go for sourcing, he had to utilise the resources that were around him to create the collection. In turn, he produced a collection that was truly unique and magical.
Having graduated from Central Saint Martins as recently as 2020, this is just the beginning for Jawaraa – and we can’t wait to see what’s next!
5. Feben Vemmendy (@its.febs)
Born in North Korea and raised in Sweden by an Ethiopian mother, Feben Vemmendy spent a large part of her childhood displaced and living in migrant camps. This is directly reflected in her work as she translates her feelings of alienation — as a child refugee and a black woman — into abstract and surreal clothing. Her looks feature prints and fabrics that clash in a manner that might not be considered ‘right’ or ‘typical’.
She first caught the public’s eye after her outstanding graduate collection at Central Saint Martins in 2020, which celebrated black womanhood. The collection featured tailoring which had been accentuated at the hips and bust in order to better fit black women, while the heel of a boot parodied euro-centric nose shapes.
Since graduating, Feben has created her eponymous brand, which she says is for anyone who is curious and willing to explore something new. She’s also worked on design and styling projectswith fashion director Ib Kamara for Beyoncé’s ‘Brown Skin Girl’ video and has gone on to launch two more collections with her most recent being the SS22 show presented at London Fashion Week.
This is going to be a massive year for Feben, we can sense it — and her journey has only just begun!
UPDATE (May 2022): Her Instagram page is currently deactivated – hopefully this means she is working on something and will be back with a bang!
