Wales Bonner stokes love affair with SAINT Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

Grace Wales Bonner’s love affair with SAINT International shows no signs of waning anytime soon.

The latest creative partnership between the British-Jamaican designer Grace Wales Bonner and The Rock’s leading modelling agency is an exclusive online editorial titled ‘Sunlight Reverie’.

Lensed in Fairy Hill, Portland earlier this year by Jamaican photographer and filmmaker Jeano Edwards, the just-out photo story boasts a cast of established SAINT faces Jonny Brown and Aakesh Henderson and rookie Kevonie Crooks.

SAINT model Kevonie Crooks for Wales Bonner Spring/Summer ’22 collection.

Dressed in trendsetting looks from the Englishwoman’s Spring/Summer ’22 menswear collection, Volta Jazz, the model trio took their turn on a rock-solid collaboration now six years strong.

The Wales Bonner website describes the newly released Sunlight Reverie as “a photographic exploration of the front yard as a source of pride, the opportunity for showcase, and celebration of personal style, but also the way towards shared life, towards togetherness”.

A first-year pharmacy technician student at the University of Technology, Jamaica, Crooks is pumped to see his international modelling debut finally unveiled and scoring major visibility.

Full-time fisherman, part-time model Aakesh Henderson sports Wales Bonner Spring/Summer ’22.

Speaking to Loop News, the 20-year-old divulged that it was an amazing experience working on the Wales Bonner shoot back in February.

“It felt like an adventure to me, although I was a little nervous at first,” he said, “but once I got to the shoot, I had a lot of confidence. The team on the set made me feel like I belonged and was home.”

Crooks recounted that after learning he was chosen to be among the models for the ‘Sunlight Reverie’ production, the first person he shared the news with was his mother, Denice, a wholesale supervisor.

“I was so overjoyed, and I told my mom who was even more excited than me,” the Clarendon College graduate shared.

SAINT star Aakesh Henderson is also elated to be part of yet another Wales Bonner project.

The male model, who recently returned from Italy to his Old Harbour, St Catherine home, just wrapped up jobs for a number of European luxury fashion clients.

“Honestly, my mind is blown knowing this is the fourth time I have worked with Grace,” Henderson, a part-time fisherman who is at sea when not on model duty, told Loop News.

“Mostly though it’s a pleasure working for such a ‘cultural’ designer. It’s not just her but the whole team that come together and it’s never a dull moment as I love their positive vibe.”

The SAINT trifecta of Henderson, Crooks and Brown, along with Jamaican twins Dequan and Domique Layne, were all handpicked by casting director Larissa Gunn for the project.

Sydney Rose Thomas was the appointed stylist, and Chavelle Wilson, the assistant. To rally the team, influential Jamaican film producer Maxine Walters, handled production.

“The SAINT Wales Bonner connection is one dear to my heart as it’s been consistently active since 2016, and it remains strong as Grace is keen on maintaining and exposing Jamaican model talent in the global fashion space,” SAINT CEO Deiwght Peters told Loop News.

“She has trusted my instincts in casting models for her runway shows and fashion film projects, and it’s humbling knowing our relationship has solidified with time.”

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