LABRUM AW26 Threads of Osmosis Explores Migration and Textile Heritage at London Fashion Week

At London Fashion Week, LABRUM returned with Threads of Osmosis, the Autumn Winter 2026 collection and the second installment in the brand’s ongoing trilogy. Where Spring Summer 2026 examined sound as a carrier of culture, this season turns its attention to textile, treating fabric as a living archive shaped by migration, craft, and collective memory.

Under the direction of founder Foday Dumbuya, the London-based label continues to build a body of work grounded in diasporic storytelling. The AW26 offering does not approach history as distant reference. Instead, garments function as physical propositions that test how heritage, movement, and structure coexist on the body.

Cloth as Living Memory

The central thesis of Threads of Osmosis is straightforward yet layered. Textiles carry evidence of climate, labour, belief, and resistance. According to the brand, fabric records migration through weave structures, fibres, motifs, and cuts that travel across continents and evolve through contact with new environments.

This season maps that journey across West Africa, India, China, Europe, and Britain. Each region informs the collection’s construction, creating garments that feel globally informed while remaining anchored in LABRUM’s London identity.

The work is also personal. Dumbuya’s journey from Freetown to Cyprus to London is embedded throughout the collection, though the narrative intentionally expands beyond individual biography to reflect broader migrant experiences.

Structure as Protection

British tailoring remains the technical backbone of the AW26 collection. Precision suiting appears across both menswear and womenswear, reinforcing LABRUM’s ongoing interest in tailoring as a tool of empowerment. The brand positions structure as both protective and expressive, allowing garments to communicate strength without sacrificing movement.

A Passport Printed Into Denim

One of the season’s most pointed visual signatures arrives through the updated passport print. New stamps and motifs reflecting contemporary migration patterns are laser etched into Japanese indigo denim, transforming the concept of travel into tactile surface detail.

The execution reflects LABRUM’s consistent focus on narrative through material development, where technical process carries as much meaning as silhouette.

Sierra Leone References Take Form

The Freetown print returns as a central motif, depicting scenes from Sierra Leone through appliqué and hand embroidery on wool outerwear. These interventions place memory directly onto structured garments, reinforcing the collection’s archival theme.

Elsewhere, cowrie shell artwork appears through traditional hand embroidery. The motif, also connected to the brand’s upcoming adidas collaboration, grounds the collection in West African visual language.

Hair as Architectural Inspiration

One of the more conceptually rich pieces is the cord appliqué dress, which draws influence from West African braided hairstyles. Within the garment, hair is treated as architecture and cultural language. The design incorporates the Nomoli and the Olokun flower, symbols associated with spirituality, protection, and ancestral presence.

Accessories Continue the Narrative

Crocheted bags reference Sierra Leonean pottery and raffia craft traditions, while woven textures echo vessels historically used to carry water and grain. Jewellery, developed in collaboration with Florence West, introduces hand-shaped brass sculptural forms produced through traditional metalsmithing.

Headwear nods to the accordion-shaped hats worn by Agadez warriors, further reinforcing the collection’s focus on migration crossroads where cultures meet and exchange ideas.

Hair styling followed a graphic, tension-driven approach with threaded and looped circular coils that mirror the collection’s themes of resilience. Makeup layered colour and texture to echo the concept of osmosis on skin.

The soundtrack paid tribute to legendary Ghanaian musician Ebo Taylor, whose influence has long informed LABRUM’s creative universe. The score, created by Juls, channels the spirit of highlife, a genre shaped through West African rhythm, jazz, funk, and diasporic exchange.

Shown alongside the main runway was an early look at the upcoming adidas x LABRUM running capsule. The preview included reimagined performance pieces such as shorts, singlets, compression sleeves, and the new Adizero Evo SL silhouette.

The full collaboration is scheduled to be announced on March 3, marking another step in LABRUM’s continued expansion into performance-driven design.

Threads of Osmosis confirms LABRUM’s position as one of London Fashion Week’s most intellectually grounded voices. The AW26 collection treats fashion as both garment and document, using textile to trace the movement of people, ideas, and craft traditions across borders.