For SS27 at London Fashion Week, Priya Ahluwalia threw a party.
Titled “Revel,” Ahluwalia’s latest collection looked at the relationship between resistance and joy, asking whether the two really need to exist separately. Presented inside London’s Rosewood Hotel, it was a collection born from frustration but ultimately built around optimism, community and the importance of taking up space.
References to protest and resistance appeared through military details, berets and sharp tailoring, with photographs of off-duty members of the Black Panther Party among Ahluwalia’s research. Fringing bounced around the body, puffball skirts brought exaggerated volume and sheer organza added a softness that constantly pushed against the harder references.
Ahluwalia has often worked with pulling, wrapping and constricting fabric around the body, but SS27 saw her begin pushing things outwards. Skirts became fuller, shoulders and hips grew and satin was sculpted into more dramatic silhouettes.
Electric blue, green, red and earthy browns appeared throughout, while an abstract red, green and white print was informed by aerial imagery and architectural plans connected to FESTAC ’77, the huge 1977 celebration of Black and African culture held in Lagos. It appeared across dresses, football shirts and matching sets, turning a piece of cultural history into something that felt energetic rather than archival.
Sportswear had an even bigger presence thanks to Ahluwalia’s latest collaboration with PUMA. Tracksuits came with tailoring-like precision, while technical jackets, football references and brightly coloured trainers were thrown against silk, sheer dresses and eveningwear. One black tracksuit was extended with long strips of fringe that moved around the legs, perfectly summing up the collection’s ability to make sportswear feel unexpectedly glamorous.
Ahluwalia has always drawn from her Indian and Nigerian heritage, British upbringing and the cultures surrounding her, but SS27 didn’t feel like it needed to neatly separate those influences or explain where one ended and another began. Football, migration, protest, tailoring, eveningwear, African cultural history and sportswear all occupied the same space.
