The British-Nigerian designer’s LFW debut was a sensory experience, employing saxophonists, talking drums and a model that broke into seamless dance mid-stride
Tolu Coker is a storyteller first and foremost, and this collection was titled Irapada, “which means redemption in Yoruba, the native tongue of my parents,” she tells us.
Yoruba is a language that derives from Nigeria, and is a form of spirituality.
“The collection was really a celebration of the diversity of spirituality across the African diaspora, and redemption in the sense of reclaiming something which has been in some ways lost, but is also being revived,” adds Tolu.
The collection’s name also hints at Tolu’s passion for “making beauty out of waste or that which has been neglected”. Almost all of the collection was sourced from deadstock, waste material or carry-forward material from previous seasons. “Even some of the actual wardrobe pieces on the runway were pieces from previous collections.”
Rippling through the collection is a sense of Sunday best, sharp tailoring and showstopping hats. “Sunday was such a significant occasion that people would get dressed up for it,” she says. “The people I saw growing up that were the most fantastically dressed were all working class. Clothing for many people was a way of, in some forms, visual social mobility. There was this suaveness that didn’t require an excessiveness or a lavishness.”
Collaboration is key to Tolu’s work, and she joined forces with Efi Davies to create the show’s elaborate braided headpieces. “Hair has been an integral part of my overall practice,” she tells us. “For so long, Afro hair has been a symbol of resistance and, while I think that’s incredibly empowering, I also think it should be a symbol of celebration. Having Afro hair at LFW shows that these things that we have within our community can sit in the space of luxury, not necessarily because of how much it costs, but because of the craft, dedication and beauty behind it.”
Tolu’s show was a family affair and her mum took a t
