Grace Wales Bonner draws an unexpected art-historical reference in her SS26 campaign, casting UK rapper Dave in an image that subtly echoes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. Turning towards the camera with fabric draped over his head, Dave becomes a modern reinterpretation of the famous painting in the Rijksmuseum, quiet, intimate, and deliberately restrained.

Photographed by Jamie Hawkesworth, the newly released campaign places Dave in a wardrobe that moves easily between elegance and ease: precise tailoring, a striped polo, leather trousers, and fringed slip-on shoes. The result is a meeting of classical mood and contemporary menswear. Gorgeous!

Although this is Dave’s first time fronting a Wales Bonner campaign, the pairing feels long established. He attended the label’s SS26 show in Paris last summer and stepped in to accept Wales Bonner’s British Menswear Designer award at The Fashion Awards in December 2025. With both hailing from south London, Dave from Brixton, Wales Bonner from Stockwell, the collaboration carries a shared cultural sensibility.

Across SS26, Wales Bonner joins a wider movement of brands which continue enlisting well-known figures to stage their beautiful campaigns.