Does addressing heavy causes mean that you have to forgo fun?

Not necessarily. Priya Ahluwalia’s latest collection began with thoughts of protests and resistance, with the Black Panthers top of mind. From photographs of their private lives, she saw that the weight of public activism doesn’t require personal asceticism.

The idea that joy is also a form of resistance felt very of-the-moment and was at the heart of the London-based designer’s spring outing, titled “Revel.”

Known for dense prints and embellishment, Ahluwalia dialed back the decoration, which brought out her dab hand at construction. Sensual elegance emerged from the melange of tailored pieces and sportier fare that included her ongoing collaboration with Puma.

Among standouts were handsome trousers with wrap-around panels, satin tops that finished in cummerbund like hems, blousons with split sleeves, and a sharp blazer with a double panel front. After the show, the designer told editors that a subtle air of West African formality emerged during fittings.

Jacquard knits owed their patterns to FESTAC ’77 in Lagos, Nigeria, a pan-African festival. Ahluwalia said she’d taken floor plans and bird’s eye photography of the site’s architecture during the monthlong event as the starting point for her motifs.

Extending the idea of human connection as a radical act was a bespoke mural that served as the backdrop to her runway. Part of a collaboration with New York-based Calico Wallpaper, it was inspired by bodies of water connecting continents, in a metaphor for migration, community and the designer’s own multicultural heritage.

“What I really thought about is how important migration and us being connected in humanity is to me — I would not be here without that,” she said.

Accompanying the finale was Jimi Hendrix’s 1968 cover of “All Along the Watchtower,” all emotional guitar and revel edge. Ahluwalia’s choice tied the initial spark of protest back into a collection that was ultimately about reveling in the lives that resistance makes possible.