Tolu Coker - the British-Nigerian designer bringing avant-garde takes on heritage to the London Fashion Week schedule - is set to reveal her SS25 collection this Sunday at 8pm.
Last season, her eponymous brand’s AW24 show titled “Broken English” paid homage to the bustling cultural hubs that are London’s street markets, bringing her perspective as a British-Nigerian woman to the runway.
We caught up with Tolu Coker ahead of her upcoming SS25 show to get some teasers and find out what exactly we should expect this season.
What can we expect from SS25?
From SS25 you can expect a deeper level of storytelling; a perspective that’s quite intergenerational that I think is still relevant today; and an increased level of sophistication across the collection.
Who’s your SS25 muse?
My mother. The collection’s literally named after her, so a lot of the collection is through her lens and it’s also her story in many ways. It's very fitting for the narrative of the collection, but also the notion of luxury being rooted back to heritage which is really important to us as a brand.
How do you want your audience to feel in reaction to this collection?
At home. I want them to feel welcomed.
Do you have any pre-show rituals?
I tend to sit in silence. [Right before a show] feels a little bit like game time because you know it's about to be kind of on a hundred, so I like to have that zen before we go into the madness.
Who would you love to have on the FROW this season?
I think we have quite a good FROW this time! I don’t want to give away any names yet, but I think there are a lot of people who I’ve really wanted to have before.
What do you think’s the biggest hurdle young designers face today?
Money! It's finance. It's sort of all round; fashion is an extremely expensive industry, especially if you’re trying to do it in a way that is slightly different to the tide. It's this delicate balance that you’re always between: being an artist and being a business person, and both have to work symbiotically even though they can be really conflicting.
A lot of brands resort to using “stunts” at fashion weeks in recent years, to capture global attention, but it's been argued that this cheapens their shows. Would you agree?
I think it's subjective, you know, everyone’s a creative in their own right, and the different things people do are of different significance. Each brand has its own approach, and [viral moments] aren’t necessarily my approach, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work for someone else, so I think it's really important to not police the way people express and create, because everything isn’t for everyone.
Oftentimes, when I see [brands using stunts to go viral], it tends to be younger designers, and I think that perhaps is quite telling about the level of support and visibility that they get and need. So I think that, rather than criticising it, it's something that can open up a wider conversation.
Your work has been called “designs for social change” but what do you think of fashion brands speaking on social injustices?
Brands aren’t entities that exist independent of themselves; they’re run but human beings, so when we think about social issues [we should remember that] a brand isn’t something to hide under. It's like being handed a microphone, and I think to have that level of visibility is to have a level of power; to have a brand is to have a level of power.
Not everyone might feel that it's their duty and I do think people should have autonomy, but on a human level we do have a duty to stand up and show up for one another. That’s not to say that it always has to be politicised, but I think with privilege comes responsibility, and it is a privilege to have a brand so there’s a level of responsibility behind it.
What would you recommend people attending your show bring with them?
Themselves? They have to be present! No, to be serious, that’s a real thing, because fashion people see tons and tons of shows back to back to back and it's so easy to forget to be immersed in the experience. So yeah, I would say come fully as yourself and be fully prepared to be immersed.
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