September 20, 2025 |
Continuing in his exploration into the dissemination of culture and its ability to affect everything that surrounds it, Foday Dumbuya’s SS26 Labrum showcase, Osmosis, was of major musical magnitude. With live performances by Odumodu Blvck, Obongjayar, Tawiah, Che Lingo and Julianknxx, underscored by the Balimaya Project’s euphoric score directed and composed by Yahael Camara Onono, the show unfolded like a ceremonial act. Culture didn’t just walk the runway – it pulsed through the floorboards.
Labrum’s Osmosis flower bloomed in woven hemp, wheat and raffia, punctuated with Cowrie shell embellishments – ancient symbols of wealth and continuity across West Africa. Suits, headwear and utility-inflected outerwear were imbued with cultural signifiers, grounded by the Adidas x Labrum footwear collaboration and the tactile weight of Dr Martens. A marching band silhouette appeared, followed by nods to the Ekonda Botolo, a ceremonial head ornament and Zulu headdresses, stitching tradition into the futuristic spiral of a global diaspora.
Military references met African architecture, with Labrum’s signature sharp tailoring softened by the breath of ritualistic detail – ventillation prints mimicking the flow of air through concrete blocks, oscillating between structure and surrender.
Sound, sight, fabric and history fused into something new. The Balimaya Project didn’t simply accompany the clothes, it inhabited them: folkloric drumming tangled with brass, orchestral strings cut through by syncopated beats and vocals that transported us between past and present.
Heritage here wasn’t a static archive, but an alive, breathing organism – moving, reshaping, redefining. In Osmosis, Labrum gave us nothing less than the sound of culture in motion.
Photography courtesy of Labrum.
