June 13, 2022

SS23 'Freedom of Movement'

We are grateful for everyone's response to our SS23 London Fashion Week show. Thank you to those who have been involved or attended the show, we appreciate all of your support!

Spring / Summer 2023 ‘Freedom of Movement’ is derived from the idea of a borderless society, where merging of cultures would coexist with constant migration. In turn, it seeks to create awareness and to celebrate different cultures under one roof, living side by side.

The story is inspired by Foday Dumbuya’s own heritage. Born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and growing up in London, the merging of these communities has always been a source of inspiration and joy.

For the collection, LABRUM’s design team brought together family photos that represented their diverse background. They ranged from Europe to South Asia to West Africa. This unity forms the core of the LABRUM universe which is designed to celebrate people from all over the world.

Taking Mark Rothko’s colour palette, this season we see blue, green and brown run throughout the collection. Rothko’s work gradually lets the colours blend and rarely features harsh blocks that break these up. This represents a feeling he had of never really belonging anywhere due to his multi-diverse background. This influence is reflected in the LABRUM London monogram. The placement of borders and the repetition of the print symbolises the idea of borders being placed around us, with the movement of immigrants going against them.

A collaboration with Choose Love on an exclusive t-shirt design appears in two colour options, these will be available to purchase post show. Choose Love is an organisation supporting refugee communities all over the world. 100% of proceeds from sales will be donated to the charity. The LABRUM design features and reimagines Choose Love's logo, originally designed by Katharine Hamnett, using the monogram print and framed by LABRUM’s ‘Designed by an Immigrant’ taping. T-shirts are GOTS certified organic cotton.

The collection is accompanied by a corresponding film ‘On Freedom Of Movement (wi de muv)’ curated and directed by Julianknxx, produced in partnership with LABRUM & ODI for the Africa-Europe Mayors’ Dialogue.

The film considers what it means to be free to move, not as in leave or flee, but to move.

To change is to move. To grow is to move.

For some of us, our environments offer a space and a context for us to move within them. However, this is not the case for many others.

As both a meditation and a listening exercise, On Freedom Of Movement (wi de muv) considers the necessity and inevitability of movement, and the ability of the environments we live in to create the space we need.

If the world were borderless and we were all free to move, what would we choose to do?

Find a recap of the show from London Fashion Week below and go to our Collections page to view the full looks.