062: Notes on New York Fashion Week & BAFTA Blues

HAPPY FEBRUARY 💫

Welcome back to another edition of Weekly Dispatch. As we keep things evolving, we greatly appreciate the patronage of loyal readers and subscribers alike to PROTOChic. Founding Supporters, you know who you are. On a snowy day in New York, we’re looking back at a few cultural milestones from the top of the year that are sure to shape the months ahead.

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DISPATCH 062 —

This week, we’re in major reflection mode on the factors shaping this season’s lackluster New York Fashion Week, musing on Grace Wales Bonner x Hermès and sharing our official review on BAFTA-winning film My Father’s Shadow from the Davies brothers. Plus: rose-colored glasses by way of Charleston and photography monographs on 1980s New York. But first, a new Nigerian film with global prospects…

BAFTA BLUES

Newly minted BAFTA winners Akinola Davies Jr. and Wale Davies are on a rising high for their debut feature film My Father’s Shadow. At the 79th Annual British Academy Film & Television Awards held in London yesterday, the brothers clutched the competitive award for “Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer” cementing their place as ones to watch. Even with the BAFTA’s seriously embarrassing gaff towards fellow nominated film Sinners, the victory was nevertheless meaningful.

It’s rare to experience a film with very few notes, where in its purity of expression, you reach acceptance of its premise quite quickly. My Father’s Shadow is that film. Directed by first-time feature filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr. and co-written with his brother Wale Davies, this single day story details a father and his two sons making their way to Lagos. A believable premise, no doubt, but as the story unfolds and the final scene concludes, the audience is primed to question whether what they even saw for 94 minutes was real. Starring Sope Dirisu and introducing Chibuike Marvellous Egbo and Godwin Egbo, this film is a poignant love story about family — what exists between a husband and a wife, a father and his two sons, and a love of country and statehood.

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THE STORY OF GRACE WALES BONNER

As creative director Véronique Nichanian presented her final collection for Hermès during Paris Men’s Fashion Week for the Fall / Winter 2026 season in January, our minds couldn’t help but reflect on the incoming ascension of Grace Wales Bonner, who will formally present her first collection as Menswear Creative Director for Hermès in 2027.

At the time of the announcement, the flurry of media coverage of such an esteemed appointment was rather positive considering the relative dearth of press for Bonner’s eponymous brand since its founding in 2014. Bonner has demonstrated a go big or go home approach to managing her own label, racking accolades as meaningful as the LVMH Prize in 2016 (first individual woman to win, no less) and the British Fashion Council’s Menswear Designer of the Year Award in 2024, as well as securing a globally renowned partnership with sportswear giant Adidas. All the while, her quietly confident take on menswear consistently dressed a cohort of influential inner circle names who only continue to rise in acclaim — let’s take a look at a few notable standouts from the past decade.

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NOTES ON NEW YORK FASHION WEEK

Outside of the commercial enterprise, in our humble opinion, much of the appeal of New York Fashion Week is in understanding the designer’s proposition for how one should dress in the future. Yes, it is our belief that fashion is intrinsically modernist even when replete with references from the past.

This Autumn / Winter 2026 season certainly lost its luster (save for a few glimmers of hope). Pinpointing the exact moment sweeps over what has been a gradual multi-year decline due to a confluence of factors: the rise of fast fashion, the flattening of aesthetic, and the dismantling of multi-brand retail. While not exclusive to New York Fashion Week, its recent showing necessitates a moment of reflection at large.

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ON OUR RADAR

Estelle Colored Glassware has debuted a new silhouette arriving just in time for warmer weather. Introducing limited edition margarita glasses in their top-selling pastel shades on a clear stem, available for pre-order now. If in Charleston, take a stroll on King Street to experience their flagship in all its kaleidoscopic beauty. (Link)

American photographer and jewelry designer Coreen Simpson is undeniable in her first monograph with Aperture — featuring essays by Doreen St. Felix, Salamishah Tillet, and Deborah Willis, this tome already has a place of pride in my library. (Link)

Just a bit curious on Rafael Pavarotti’s ode to New York in partnership with H&M. Surely more to come! (Link)