The London-born label founded by creative director Foday Dumbuya sourced its name from the Latin term for ‘having an edge’. Incidentally, nothing quite encapsulates the label’s Spring/Summer 24 collection – Nomoli Oddysey: A Migration of Style and Identity – in a better way. Clean and tailored silhouettes splashed with bold elements of texture and print, Labrum’s 2023 showing at London Fashion Week celebrated the history of Liberia and Sierra Leone with considered flare and tangible emotion.
The Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design recipient presented tailored cigarette shorts and pleated skirt sets whilst exploring the resilience of cultural identity. Held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Ten Trinity Square, the show was narrated by the vocal stylings of Battersea-born Tawiah, accompanied by the melodic piano playing of Karim Kamar.
West African folktales were the starting point for the designer, manifesting in a series of masked Nomoli figurines that found themselves integrated into fabrics or embroidered onto trench coats. Raffia and frayed fabrics contributed to more statement pieces, saluting to traditional masquerade attire, whilst the vibrant patterns displayed throughout drew from Mende and Temne tribal masks. A testament to the transformative journeys taken by many immigrants in the 1970s, the collection also took cues from London-bred cultural stimuli to tell a broader narrative of a rich and multi-dimensional heritage. Opening the show was former Arsenal player Ian Wright, whilst a trackset in collaboration with Top Boy appeared mid-way through. Unknown T and Wretch 32 walked. Dumbaya also pointed to the journeys of work-seeking migrants traversing through the Port of London Authority HQ – where the Four Seasons now stands – as another factor that influenced his decision on runway location.
Emotive, informative and meticulously considered, Labrum’s SS24 was one of the brand’s strongest to date.
Photographs Courtesy of Labrum.
