LONDON Fashion Week is currently abuzz with Labrum’s AW23 collection, ‘From Greener Pastures’, which pays tribute to families separated by borders and oceans yet united through correspondence. The Founder and Creative Director, Foday Dumbuya, drew inspiration from Brixton Village, one of London’s most renowned community-led locations, to showcase their design vision.
The collection highlights the difficulties of leaving behind loved ones and starting over in a foreign country. Dumbuya was inspired by his own childhood experience of migration from Sierra Leone to London through Cyprus and the SS23 Freedom of Movement. The showcase features authentic passports and other forms of identification to represent the challenges migrants confront.
Dynamic live performances, poetry, and contemporary dance set the tone for the show, drawing upon diasporic identities. Featuring muted tones of brown and olive green, the garments evoke nostalgic recollections of memories of homeland scenery left behind. The collection pays tribute to the past with a trench coat featuring a photomontage print of passport stamps named after American civil rights activist and poet Maya Angelou. As she once said, “You can’t really know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.”
Labrum’s first-ever varsity jacket also features in the collection, with the signature Nomoli character on the back and customizable badging. Labrum collaborated with Masha Guyard for a community project called “Each One, Stitch One” to create the quilted pieces seen in the show. These one-of-a-kind garments are designed to stand the test of time. Headwear designer Lucy Barlow also created raffia hats that double as drawstring bags, adding an elevated accessory to the collection.
Overall, AW23 ‘From Greener Pastures’ is a dialogue between two worlds: the familiar and the unfamiliar, the old and the new, the homeland and the adopted place, and the future and the past. With this collection, Dumbuya has once again remarkably demonstrated his commitment to addressing important social issues through the art of fashion.
by Zlata KryudorÂ