Rather than present her spring/summer 2026 collection on the runway, the British-Nigerian designer Tolu Coker made a short film. Codirected with her brother, Ade Coker, Unfinished Business sees Naomi Campbell and a cast of upcoming Black models quietly inhabiting a bedroom full of wooden toys and family photographs. The soundtrack is a recording of an intimate conversation that Campbell and the Coker siblings had about childhood and motherhood. “The story we wanted to tell wasn’t a story of spectacle,” explained Coker, who has previously directed music videos. “It was about the intimacy of mundane moments, like a family video.” Outfits from her namesake label, such as a butter yellow top with a fitted bodice and a voluminous, 1950s-style skirt, are worn by both Campbell and the younger models, as if they were heirlooms being passed down.
When we spoke on a Friday afternoon, Coker’s atelier at 180 Studios, a creative hub for artists in Central London, was in full flux. The hats usually pinned on the wall behind her desk—all of her collections include sculptural headwear, from towering bowlers to dramatic takes on traditional African filas—were en route to red carpet events and editorial shoots. Books as diverse as bell hooks’s All About Love and Issey Miyake monographs were haphazardly stacked on windowsills, beside family photos. “The British Fashion Awards are on Monday,” explained Coker. The 32-year-old had been nominated for the Vanguard Award, and she had also designed a look for the rapper Little Simz, who was nominated for—and ultimately won—the Cultural Innovator Award. To receive it, Simz wore a Tolu Coker tailored skirt suit in houndstooth, done in forest green as a nod to their shared Nigerian heritage.
Adit Priscilla.
Coker’s aesthetic sensibility was forged at home, which means both North Kensington, where she grew up with two siblings, and Lagos, where both of her parents were born. Her childhood home was often bustling with cousins and relatives arriving in the U.K. Coker’s late father, Kayode, was a photographer and community organizer who documented protests and the shifting politics of their neighborhood. He always dressed up and “would not go out without a hat—a beret was his signature.” Her mother, Olapeju, a devout Christian and a stalwart of the parent-teacher association at Coker’s school, made most of the family’s clothes, from everyday garments to church attire. Both of them embraced West London’s swap culture, trading “everything and anything at Portobello Road Market” and at early morning car-boot sales.
Coker’s relationship with clothes was also shaped by grief. When she was 9, her 12-year-old sister passed away suddenly in her sleep. Four years later, her father died. “When they no longer have a physical body, what you have of a person is their belongings,” explained Coker. “Their clothes ended up having an intangible value for me.”
Adit Priscilla.
Coker went on to study fashion design and textile print at Central Saint Martins, landing internships at Phoebe Philo–era Céline, JW Anderson, and Maison Margiela. After graduating, in 2017, she had a challenging stint designing at a fast-fashion retailer in Spain, where she felt uninspired and ethically conflicted. It helped Coker realize she wanted to build something “from the ground up.” Her brand officially launched in 2021, and it quickly garnered attention. The following year, she was admitted into the artist Theaster Gates’s Design Lab, an experimental residency in Chicago that brings together creatives across disciplines. The Lab provided not only resources and mentorship but also the opportunity for Coker to “dream bigger than big.”
Coker has always been inspired by what her parents and members of their generation wore upon immigrating to Britain. “We often talk about the Western gaze, but no one talks about Africa’s gaze on the West,” she said. Britishness imagined from afar was about aspiration and possibility, which is why Coker’s parents “dressed to the nines” when they arrived. Her father’s photographs are often reference points for Coker’s collections. In a black and white one he took at a house party in 1960s London, gentlemen stand in three-piece suits behind women in buba and iro—a Yoruba top and wrapped skirt, worn as an ensemble—finished off with gele headpieces. “You can’t tell that these people are working-class,” said Coker. “It looks like they could be aristocrats.” This idea recurs in her collections with flared suiting, West African–influenced waistcoats, pleated skirts, and Prince of Wales checks.
Kukua Williams.
Five years in, her label has been worn by everyone from Doechii to Rihanna to Ariana Grande. Last year, Coker was an LVMH Prize finalist. But even as her brand grows, she is purposely keeping things close to home. All her garments are manufactured in the U.K., and she works so intimately with her seamstresses that she knows exactly who sewed each garment. “Each piece has my name on it, but it’s not about me,” she said. “Most things I make will outlive their original wearer. Kind of morbid, but also quite a beautiful thought.”
Producer: Elin Kally; Hair by Moe Mukai; makeup by Erin Green for Byredo at CLM; Models: Adit Priscilla at Heroes Models, Kukua Williams and Rey at Premier model management; Casting by Ashley Brokaw Casting; Photo Assistants: Tommy Francis, Jed Barnes; Retouching: Grain Post Production; Fashion Assistant: Letizia Maria Allodi; Hair Assistant: Myuji Sato; Makeup Assistant: Lizzie Checkle.
