For SS27, POET-LAB returns to London Fashion Week with ‘REMEMBER’, a collection exploring memory as a fundamental part of identity and a quiet form of resistance in a world increasingly shaped by conformity.
The collection began with Albania and the personal history of its muse, Elton Ilirjani. Born in Albania, Elton’s connection to the country became a point of departure for an exploration of the places, memories and experiences that shape who we become, and what it means to carry them forward.
This sense of place runs through the collection, with Albania’s industrial landscapes and timeless architecture informing its visual language. Brutalist structures, raw concrete, metal and geometric forms are placed against fluid, sculptural silhouettes, creating a tension between rigidity and movement. This contrast has remained a consistent language throughout POET-LAB’s collections, where architectural forms meet softer, more fluid silhouettes to create a dialogue between strength and vulnerability.
The garments take on an architectural quality, bringing a sense of vulnerability to otherwise structured forms. Oversized volumes, asymmetric tailoring and genderless forms shift traditional codes of dressing, while restrained colour and unexpected proportions allow the construction itself to become the focus.
For POET-LAB, clothing becomes a way of preserving something. Each garment holds its own sense of structure and emotion, reflecting the idea that what we carry with us can become part of how we define ourselves.
Elton Ilirjani embodies this spirit at the centre of the collection. Their presence brings the personal back into the conceptual, connecting the collection to a place and history that cannot be separated from identity.
‘REMEMBER’ is not about looking back. It is about carrying the past forward. Because memory is the only luxury that cannot be replicated. And the freedom to remember is the freedom to remain yourself.
