Sage Elsesser • Wales Bonner Autumn Winter 2023

There is cachet and there is cachet, not many have it quite like designer Grace Wales Bonner does. Since winning the 2016 LVMH Prize, the Central Saint Martins graduate has long cemented her Wales Bonner label as one of the coolest. A fusion of “European heritage and Afro Atlantic spirit” imbues everything about Wales Bonner and is undoubtedly part of the reason why the label is so resonant in the year 2023.

It is no surprise, then that casting should be on point. Enter Sage Elsesser, face of the Autumn Winter 2023 advertising campaign photographed by Tyler Mitchell. Today the label introduced the campaign documented in Paris on Instagram with Sage wearing the Histoire Coat, Compass Brooch, and leopard-print Symphony Slipper. It’s a stately look, authoritative to be sure, one which Sage wears with conviction. This campaign continues what is just another remarkable year for the multihyphenate (stage name: Navy Blue), who in March signed with Def Jam and released his major label debut record Ways of Knowing to critical acclaim. In Sage Elsesser, Wales Bonner has its man, and a lock on all that is cool.

Credits include: Photography Tyler Mitchell; Styling, Tom Guinness; Hair, Cyndia Harvey; Makeup, Lauren Parsons; Design, Peter Miles Studio; Production, Jameson Pepper; Casting, Establishment New York.