Foday Dumbuya, founder and creative director of fashion label Labrum London, has become the latest recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design.
On Thursday, King Charles III presented the award to Dumbuya during a ceremony at 180 Studios in London to his inspiring talent and creativity.
The award comes six months after the King met Dumbuya for the first time during a visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Africa Fashion exhibition.
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Recalling the first time they met, Dumbuya told WWD of the royal: ‘He said to me: “What are you thinking about next fashion show?” And I said: “I am still telling my story, I suppose it’s going to be in Brixton. So would you come?” He said “Would you invite me?” I said “Yes,” and he turned around to his team and said “He said I am invited. Are you guys seeing this? I am waiting for the invite.” It was funny, the kind of conversation we had.’
Dumbuya, who said he would dedicate his win to his fellow Sierra Leoneans in London, described told WWD that the award was ‘a testament to the hard work and dedication of myself and the countless individuals who supported me get where we are today. And also the tremendous amount of work that my team has put together’.
‘When you look at it from a Sierra Leone perspective, these guys face such unimaginable difficulties and try to develop something from a very poor background as there’s no infrastructure. So seeing someone looking like them doing it on a bigger scale, I think that’s going to change the way they look at it,’ he told the publication.
Dumbuya founded Labrum London, which means ‘having an edge’ in Latin, in 2014 with the aim of making clothing that pays tribute to West African and British heritage, and has been showing at London Fashion Week since February 2012.
The designer is a former student of the London College of Fashion and Nottingham Trent University, and previously worked as as a bespoke design specialist at Nike. He becomes the sixth recipient of the award, which has previously been presented to Richard Quinn, Bethany Williams, Rosh Mahtani of Alighieri, Priya Ahluwalia, and Saul Nash.
Since 2018 the BFC and the Royal Household have chosen a designer every year to receive the prestigious award. The BFC explained that Dumbuya was chosen as this year's winner as a result of his talent for bridging ‘the story of his West African heritage with his life in London and the history of British tailoring’.
‘His works speak to what is so unique and compelling about the UK as a leader in creative and fashion talent,’ noted Caroline Rush, chief executive officer at the British Fashion Council. ‘At the BFC, we recognise our responsibility to support these incredible British emerging designers as they develop into self-sustaining businesses and are honoured and proud to continue to do so, particularly in the current economic climate as funding for the arts diminishes.’
The artist Lucy Price at Bauhinia Studios is behind the award’s design, which is inspired by the Queen Elizabeth rose. Other attendees at the award presentation included Queer Eye’s Tan France, Sabrina Dhowre Elba, and Christopher Kane.
While Queen Elizabeth may have only attended her first fashion in 2018 (who can forget that Richard Quinn FROW moment?), King Charles has long been involved in the British fashion scene, from launching London’s menswear fashion week in June 2012 to spearheading the establishment of the SMI Sustainable Fashion Task Force in 2020, which brings brands and retailers together to create a more sustainable industry.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
