Designer Spotlight: Black Designers Klur, Wales Bonner and La Réunion
by Julia Zimmelman
Everything you need to know about KLUR / The Collection
Category: Clean, Hydrating, Soothing, Innovative
Founder, Esthetician and Formulator Lesley Thornton created Klur with the vision to cultivate a brand that reflected the values of clean, ethical, and inclusive beauty. An independent, self-funded, woman-owned and operated company that puts sustainability at the forefront. These products were made for all people, skin types, conditions, and ethnicities.KLUR is a botanically based collection of high-performance skincare and multi-purpose self-care products. A harmonious composition of plant botanicals and bioavailable actives serve as the foundation for all of our formulas. Our offerings are esthetician developed and expertly formulated for optimal performance. All KLUR products are meticulously crafted utilizing plant-based, nature identical, and clinically proven actives free of parabens, sulfates, fillers, fragrance, and dyes.
Graphics courtesy of KLUR.
Everything you need to know about Wales Bonner / The Collection
Category: Unisex, Fashion, Luxury, Modern
Informed by broad research encompassing critical theory, musical composition, literature and history, WALES BONNER embraces a multiplicity of perspectives, proposing a distinct notion of luxury, via a hybrid of European and Afro-Atlantic approaches. Grace Wales Bonner launched her eponymous label in 2014, following her graduation from Central Saint Martins.
Established as a menswear brand, Wales Bonner’s soulful tailoring soon expanded to womenswear. In 2015, she was awarded Emerging Menswear Designer at the British Fashion Awards. In 2016, following her first solo runway presentation - Ezekiel, she received the LVMH Young Designer Prize. In 2019, Wales Bonner was invited by Maria Grazia Chiuri to collaborate with Dior to re-interpret their New Look silhouette for the Resort 2020 collection; shortly afterwards, she was announced the winner of the BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund.
In January 2019, Grace Wales Bonner presented her first institutional exhibition, A Time for New Dreams at London’s Serpentine Galleries. She is an associate lecturer at Central Saint Martins, London and has lectured at Parsons School of Design, New York City.
Graphics courtesy of Wales Bonner.
Everything you need to know about La Réunion / The Collection
Category: Vibrant, Exclusive, Quilted, Sustainable
Sarah Nsikak is a Nigerian-American living in Brooklyn, New York. Her love of textiles led her to working in the fashion industry for several years after completing a Masters Degree in Art Therapy. The exorbitant amount of waste generated in the fashion industry inspired a re-routing back to her art practice. These hand quilted pieces are made exclusively using recycled material sourced from fashion designers based in New York. Special textiles are also sourced through vintage stores and estate sales.
La Réunion is named after the island off the coast of Madagascar. The many influences for this project include the vibrant stories of African culture, post colonial African countries, ideas surrounding reclaimed beauty, togetherness, color, joy, and inviting ones self back to what was always there all along. It is materializing an idea of sacred and unabashed individuality. Everyone is invited.
Graphics courtesy of La Réunion.