Priya Ahluwalia, Tolu Coker and Torishéju Dumi Are British Vogue’s Sustainability Trailblazers

 

Tolu Coker, Priya Ahluwalia, and Torishéju Dumi are gracing the cover of British Vogue’s “Sustainability Trailblazers” on its January 2024 issue.

The cover images feature these accomplished women of Nigerian descent embracing their beauty and individuality.

In the feature, Coker and Dumi modeled the looks from their brands—Tolu Coker and Torishéju, while Ahluwalia dons a jacket from her eponymous brand Ahluwalia, with a mix of pieces from other brands.

The video shared on social media captures the designers’ joy upon discovering they are the new Bristish Vogue cover stars. For Torisheju, the surprise is the beginning of the start of their journey.

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Tolu Coker, the youngest among the talented trio of designers, gave the magazine an exclusive look into her North Kensington neighborhood, known as a hub for Portobello vintage traders.

She shared insights into her creative process, revealing the industrial knitting machines she discovered there. These machines played a crucial role in her breakout spring/summer 2024 collection, named Irapada (meaning “redemption” in Yoruba), which drew inspiration from the white gowns worn in Yoruba churches in south London and Candomblé processions in Brazil.

While Ahluwalia excels in artisanal knits and vibrant prints, Dumi’s monochromatic looks focus on structure, turning deconstructed blazers into extraordinary silhouettes using offcuts from large wholesale warehouses.

These designers share a commitment to resourcefulness, building businesses with sustainability at their core. Dumi emphasizes making do with available resources, using leftover fabrics to craft her unique designs. Coker echoes this sentiment, defining success as slow, steady growth and longevity. She believes fashion can be about telling new stories with existing pieces, as exemplified by some items in her spring/summer 2024 collection carried forward from a previous release.

The clothing created by these three women is inherently sustainable, and for Priya Ahluwalia, sustainability is not just about the materials used but also about driving positive social and environmental change. 

She believes that to bring freshness to the fashion industry, decision-makers must embrace different perspectives and diversify top-level conversations. She advocates for broader inclusion of individuals in influential roles, emphasizing that many capable designers are overlooked due to sticking with the status quo.

Trishéju Dumi, hailing from Harlesden in London, made a remarkable debut at Paris Fashion Week with a lineup of models such as Naomi Campbell, Paloma Elsesser, and Devyn Garcia, etc. For her, the clothes she creates ‘aim to empower the wearer and evoke a sense of significance.’

For Torisheju, her debut show was about asserting her creative independence. She expressed a sense of liberation in breaking away from society’s expectations of a black designer, feeling genuinely free with the launch of this collection,and marking a pivotal moment in her creative journey.

Alongside these three designers, British Vogue’s 2024 Sustainability Trailblazer edition also highlights actress Emma Watson and supermodel Amber Valletta. Watson wears a Maison Margiela tee and Otiumberg earrings, while Valletta sports a Burberry trench coat, Toast jacket, Issey Miyake shirt, Philip Treacy hat, and Otiumberg earrings on the cover.

The British Vogue 2024 issue will be available on newsstands starting Tuesday, December 19, 2023.