Topshop has slinked back onto the high street and into the British consciousness with its entrance into 32 John Lewis stores across the country. Now it’s tapping up a London Fashion Week darling, the British-Nigerian Designer, Tolu Coker, for its first comeback collaboration.

Coker captured the fashion pack when she debuted her eponymous sustainable, unisex AW19 collection, 'Juvenile Consciousness', at LFW in 2018 after graduating from the capital’s hub of art Central Saint Martins, which also honed the raw talents of household names, Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Stella McCartney, and Phoebe Philo to name a few.

The several stints Coker had completed at big name labels, including Maison Margiela, J.W. Anderson and Celine, starred her work for success.

Eight years on, her talent has achieved global recognition. Last year Coker became a finalist for the prestigious LVMH Prize which is awarded to emerging designers (under the age of 40 who have produced at least two collections), only narrowly losing out to the Japanese designer, Soshi Otsuki.

But her latest work was fit for a king. Just last month His Royal Highness King Charles III made a surprise special appearance and sat front row between the above mentioned Stella McCartney and Head of the British Fashion Council, Laura Weir, to watch her AW26 collection show, which was held at the NewGen Space at 180 Strand on Thursday 19th February.

The 18-piece capsule Topshop collection features trans-seasonal knitwear, a 'barrel' jacket with matching jeans, blazers, pleated trousers and knitted dresses, all designed with a focus on longevity, as Coker looks to create garments that are designed to last.

Rooted in Coker’s London upbringing and the spaces that have shaped her, the collaboration reflects her start on North Kensington’s Mozart Estate and her upbringing against the backdrop of the city's Nigerian community, in a working-class family with Yoruba heritage.

‘Topshop was my first job when I was 16, so this collaboration is personal,’ says Coker.

‘But it’s also a statement of intent. We designed with restraint, maintained quality, considered quantities, and circular choices, because accessibility shouldn’t mean excess. The collection is built to live beyond a season.’

Coker feels collaboration is key to the future of the fashion industry in the UK; ‘the reach and resources of brands like Topshop, coupled with the ideas and rigour of young designers, is how we shift our approach to design in a tangible way. It takes bravery to interrogate what ‘accessible’ can mean and to take real steps to evolve it.’

Shop highlights from the collaboration below.