Hey Luxury Lovers! Tolu Coker opened London Fashion Week AW26 on Thursday 19 February at 180 Strand, and she opened it properly. The set was a recreation of the Mozart Estate in West London where she grew up — concrete, fencing, a basketball court, traffic cones, tube signage, a Mozart Street W10 street sign — with a community mural by Neequaye Dreph Dsane painted from photographs in her late father’s archive.
The show
Little Simz stood up from the front row and performed Free. The Compozers played live, with trumpeter Ife Ogunjobi. And then: “Please stand for His Majesty The King” — King Charles was there, seated with the BFC’s Laura Weir and Stella McCartney. Skepta, Martine Rose and Seán McGirr were in too.
“I think the way I was raised was really about community,” she said afterwards, and you could feel it in the room.
The clothes
Twenty-eight looks called Survivor’s Remorse, about dual identity and what happens to your wardrobe when you move between worlds — West London and Lagos. Corseted jackets with relaxed shoulders, sculpted anatomical corsetry, pleated and flounced skirts, hooded pieces with an athletic ease, school uniform and menswear against flirty dresses.
British heritage tartans and pied-de-poule rendered in Yoruba colour — British wool, upcycled leather, deadstock denim, reclaimed satin, with matching ties, hats and headpieces. The hair, by Efi Davies and the TONI&GUY team, was pure 1990s.
My verdict
The most moving show of the week, and the most fun. Watch for the Topshop collaboration.
Runway photographs: Vogue Runway.
See every look on Vogue Runway →
Luxury Mummy xo
