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Ahluwalia SS27 Revel: Black Panthers photographed off duty, jacquard knits drawn from FESTAC 77 floor plans, pared-back decoration

Ahluwalia's own line on SS27 Revel: "a reflection on the power of intentionally choosing lightness". The idea underneath is that joy counts as resistance. The photographs that started it showed activists at home, not at the march, and Priya Ahluwalia said afterwards that a quiet West African formality crept in during fittings. On silhouette she was specific. Her draping is usually about pulling and constriction, she said before the show, and this time "I was thinking about pushing into space". The mural is a product as well as a set. Estuary by Ahluwalia is her debut wallcovering, launched with Calico during London Fashion Week and the London Design Festival, and she tied it to migration: "I would not be here without that." The Puma partnership began in 2025 with a reworked Suede.

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The post, as it ran

01AHLUWALIA'S SPRING SHOW, REVEL, BEGAN WITH PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE BLACK PANTHERS OFF DUTY AND ARRIVED AT FRINGED TRACKSUITS AND SHARP SATIN.
02PRIYA AHLUWALIA IS A LONDON DESIGNER WHO WORKS FROM HER INDIAN AND NIGERIAN HERITAGE. REVEL WALKED AT LONDON FASHION WEEK ON 19 SEPTEMBER 2026.
03SHE HAD BEEN RESEARCHING RESISTANCE MOVEMENTS, THEN ASKED WHO THOSE PEOPLE WERE AWAY FROM THE PROTEST. THE PANTHERS' OWN CLOTHES SHAPED HER POCKETS.
04THE PATTERNS CAME FROM FESTAC 77, THE MONTH-LONG FESTIVAL OF BLACK AND AFRICAN ARTS HELD IN LAGOS, NIGERIA, IN 1977.
05SHE TOOK FLOOR PLANS AND AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE FESTIVAL'S BUILDINGS AND TURNED THEM INTO THE MOTIFS OF HER JACQUARD KNITS.
06A DESIGNER KNOWN FOR DENSE PRINT AND EMBELLISHMENT PULLED THE DECORATION BACK. THE CUTTING SHOWED.
07TROUSERS CAME WITH WRAP-AROUND PANELS. SATIN TOPS ENDED IN A CUMMERBUND HEM. A SHARP BLAZER HAD A DOUBLE PANEL FRONT.
08THE SHAPE MOVED TOO. DROPPED WAISTS AND BALLOON HEMS INFLATED THE SKIRTS, AND FRINGE RAN ACROSS EVENINGWEAR AND SPORTSWEAR ALIKE.
09HER THIRD PUMA COLLECTION WALKED WITH IT. TRAINERS IN SILVER, COBALT AND TERRACOTTA SAT UNDER A CREAM DOUBLE-BREASTED SUIT.
10THE BACKDROP WAS A MURAL OF WATER JOINING CONTINENTS, MADE WITH CALICO WALLPAPER, THE NEW YORK STUDIO.

From the archive

ArchiveArchivePriya Ahluwalia followed British castoffs from a Lagos market to Panipat, photographed the shredding7 beatsRead Open on Instagram