The opening day of London Fashion Week autumn/winter 2026 belonged to Tolu Coker, whose AW26 presentation was a show that captured the ecosystem around her as much as the clothes.

Photo credit: Dave Benett/Getty Images

Tolu Coker, a British-Nigerian designer who uses her work as a canvas to examine heritage, class and contemporary Black life, continues her exploration with her AW26 show. Held at 180 Strand’s NewGen space in London, the presentation carried an immediate sense of occasion — heightened by the unexpected front-row appearance of King Charles III, a symbolic moment given the designer’s early support from The Prince’s Trust when launching her label in 2018.

                        Photo by Richard Pohle - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Photo Credit: Dave Benett/Getty Images

The show was also attended by some of British fashion’s most beloved designers — Martine Rose and Stella McCartney, Priya Ahluwalia and Emilia Wickstead, Clare Waight Keller and Anya Hindmarch, alongside British rap queen Little Simz, who scored the show with a live band.

The show wasn’t just a conventional catwalk; rather, Tolu Coker used set design to rebuild fragments of her upbringing on a west London council estate. The collection looked back at childhood memories, neighbourhood loss and the emotional architecture of working-class life, with Coker’s design language — deconstructed silhouettes, unisex sensibilities and sustainable sourcing — reinforcing that narrative.