Attendees lined the avenues of Brixton Village market last night, and were left marvelling at the sensorial success that was Labrum’s AW23 collection. Those who witnessed the moment agreed it would be remembered as the best show of the week.
Sierra Leonean fashion designer Foday Dumbuya’s collections have risen to become one of the most hyped slots on London Fashion Week’s official schedule, thanks to immersive shows which combine live performances with his signature celebration of West African culture and clothing.
This collection was an unquestionable level up for his label, founded in 2015, as he left smaller venues in Central London, and put his brand of tailoring with streetwear touches in the context of the marketplace. “We’re bringing this story to where it should be told,” the designer says.
Guests including musician Cktrl, comedian Munya Chawawa, Love Islander’s ââDami Hope and Ovie Soko, and Lennon Gallagher took their seats in the high arched, blue painted open market amongst fruit and veg stores open late, and a café selling bottled beers. The Balimaya Project’s drums and strings filled the space, and the fishy scent of a day’s business lingered in the air. “Being in Brixton village feels so rich. My eyes, my ears, even my nose are filled with culture,” Chawawa said. “It is 100 per cent the best show I’ve been to.”
The collection, titled From Greener Pastures, looked at long-distance connections between migrants and their loved ones. “You can’t speak on migration in England without speaking about Brixton,” Dumbuya says. To begin, a poem offered context. “The coward and quivering who regardless stood up and opted out of comfort, to cross borders, to branch out of home,” read a performer, as dancer Tyrone Isaac Stuart contorted his body holding a vintage trunk, before playing the saxophone as models streamed out.
Passport prints covered overcoats in a nod to the hoops jumped through by families making their way to Europe or North America. The first Labrum Varsity jackets were worn with mustard, knitted dresses and cream trousers, while tailored blazers were sliced with zippers, and worn with ear flapped bucket hats.
Artist and designer Yinka Ilori was tapped to create the turquoise set, which sat in harmony with the existing architecture, and longtime Labrum collaborator Julianknxx art directed. Both recognise the persisting threat of Brixton’s gentrification. “That’s the tension in Brixton,” Julianknxx says. “There is a sense of marking it before it will disappear.” Ilori agrees. “Developers are there to make money and develop. I always feel like the communities are the last thing people really care about.”
It is a battle Brixton Village, and its general manager Diana Nabagereka, are fighting on the front line. “Labrum’s mission statement is ‘designed by an immigrant’ — we have so many success stories in Brixton Village. More than 65 per cent of our traders are immigrants,” she says. “It felt right to have someone like Foday take the lead in putting on an event like this in our avenues.”
And on Sunday evening, amongst the bright orange printed and quilted gilets, hand-stitched satin jackets and slacks, panelled denim bomber jackets and a finale look which saw a suitcase worn poignantly as a hat, the overwhelming emotion was one of sartorial triumph.
“We’ve come in, and had to work twice as hard,” Dumbuya says, discussing immigration. He might just as well be talking about London Fashion Week, however. His commitment to the production and presentation of such a well rounded vision has, this week, been peerless.
