In London Tolu Coker has acquired something of a reputation for the textured, emotionally profound environments that she builds around her collection presentations. In previous seasons, we’ve been transported to family members’ living rooms and even into a mock-up of her own studio—experiences that compete with (and, to this reviewer, even outdo) many shows put on by the schedule’s bigger names.
For spring, though, Tolu decided to buck expectations—or, perhaps, flip the script—and present by way of a film screening. Her reasoning was that this season marked something of a tipping point in the trajectory of her namesake brand. “This is about really trying to hone in on our messaging and the values that we want to celebrate,” she said in a preview ahead of the show, with that desire especially understandable since Coker recently found herself in Paris as a finalist in this year’s LVMH Prize.
It’s a moment that would prompt something of stock take for anyone. “The collection is called Unfinished Business, and it is looking at this idea of inheritance,” she said. “I always say clothes should outlive their original wearer, thinking about the idea of clothing as heirloom, or as objects that carry legacies.” It’s been a theme at the heart of Coker’s work for a while now, a testament to the organic, iterative nature of her practice. “I think of all my collections as an anthology; they don’t exist in isolation,” she said. “I’d been looking at matriarchs and my spring 2025 lineup. And so it’s sort of continued on this spring with the idea of womanhood. And we have a very special muse sort-of fronting it…”
That’s no understatement: the star of both the film and the collection’s campaign is none other than Naomi Campbell. The British supermodel is a longstanding supporter of Coker’s business, but her will to have her involved came down to the particular phase of life that Campbell currently finds herself in. “It’s really looking at the relationship between how the world views her and the reality of this sort of season in her life and what she’s stepping into in becoming a mother,” said Coker.
Comprising shots of Campbell in a warmly lit domestic space, decorated with images of family photos, the model contemplates the discrepancy between the hyper-glam, superhuman global perception of her and the reality of who she is as, you know, a real person, with all the nuances that entails.
With respect to how this sense of contemplation distills into clothing, the answer is as complex and seemingly contrasting. The structured, ’60s-inspired tailoring that Coker has made a name with returned in earthen hues, sky blue and teal leather, but there was also a pronounced softness to the collection that felt like a promising new direction for the designer. Puffball sleeved dresses in sandy twill had an almost balloon-like buoyancy to them, while a butter yellow flounced skirt in velvety shirting poplin seemed to have a featherlight flow, but in fact had a 14 meter circumference and took days to make. Alongside a pastel satin version, its pattern was designed to allow for the piece to be made using fabric offcuts that might typically be discarded—extending the cloth’s legacy, so to speak. “Working with lighter materials, I was really thinking about this idea of softness and vulnerability, specifically for black British women,” said Coker. “I think it’s so important to see us as human and to see the softness and vulnerability as a form of strength.”
There was something to this season’s offering from Coker that felt franker, more earnest, and perhaps more attuned and grounded than what we’ve seen from her before. “I’ve always said that I want to be real and take people into a space and journey of where I’m at right now,” she said. “In the film, we’re looking at the humanity of women. It’s a case of celebrating that, and making commentary on the reality of that through the woman’s wardrobe.”
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