adidas Originals and Wales Bonner are back to present their latest collaborative project. As an integral part of the Fall/Winter 2021 collection titled “Black Sunlight,” the new pieces, sneakers and accessories, build on the themes developed in the Spring/Summer 2021 collection, “Essence,” and the Fall/Winter 2020 collection, “Lovers Rock.”
Concluding the collection trilogy, “Black Sunlight” explores the world of Caribbean thought and Black British intellectualism, reflecting on scholars, poets, and artists from the Caribbean, India, and West Africa, whose work and writings have advanced postcolonial discourse in the UK and around the world.
While Wales Bonner reinterpreted the aesthetics and stylistic trends of the 1970s in the two previous collections, the designer turns her attention to the radical thinkers of the 1980s diaspora for Fall/Winter 2021. The collection of clothing and accessories features iconic adidas pieces, refreshed through Wales Bonner’s inimitable vision.
She incorporates popular, ’80s-inspired cuts and silhouettes into items such as T-shirts, pants, sweatpants, a tracksuit, an anorak, and a sun hat. Inspired by the iconography of scholars, select pieces are enhanced with college graphics that represent academic and spiritual growth.
The collection is both a tribute to the ’80s and a reinterpretation of archived design elements. The adidas Japan silhouette has been reimagined in terms of both material and color. The WB Japan sneaker, which brings the collection’s thematic inspiration to life, is available in four essential colorways: Dark Marine/Easy Yellow/Cream White, Hazy Yellow/Brown/Dark Brown, Cream White/Easy Yellow/Dark Brown, and Dark Brown/Collegiate Burgundy/Easy Yellow.
The first two colorways feature a nylon upper accented with suede strips. The third colorway consists of a leather upper paired with a suede toe cap and heel tab, as well as a woven tongue with moccasin-style edge stitching. The final colorway features a suede upper accented with contrasting leather details.
Each pair of these carefully designed sneakers is then updated with embossed Wales Bonner branding in gold foil on the side and comes with additional woven laces.
Photographed by Tyler Mitchell, the collection is accompanied by an atmospheric photo campaign that captures the nostalgia of a balmy summer afternoon and reflects a moment frozen in time.
This season, adidas Originals and Wales Bonner step away from the institutional academic setting that brought the previous collection to life and venture outdoors into an idyllic leisure setting, where a group of models relax in a meadow and interact with artfully arranged soccer balls, bicycles, and goalposts—all wrapped in vibrant fabrics and ribbons.
The images build on the themes of identity and representation that feature in both Wales Bonner’s and Tyler Mitchell’s work. They convey feelings of freedom, intimacy, and camaraderie born of unfettered authenticity and connection.
The Fall/Winter 2021 collection from adidas Originals by Wales Bonner is available at VooStore. The shoes will launch in early 2022.
