British-Nigerian designer Tolu Coker has long been a royal favorite. When launched in 2018, she was an early beneficiary of The Prince’s Trust, receiving mentorship and support over the years. Then, during London Fashion Week last month, British monarch King Charles III sat front row at her show (his first-ever fashion show). Now, it’s the royal Kate Middleton who’s given the designer a respectful nod.
Yesterday, the Princess of Wales hosted a state visit with the President of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his wife, First Lady Oluremi Tinubu. It marked the first state visit by a Nigerian leader in 37 years and the first to be hosted at Windsor Castle. So, naturally, Middleton honored the occasion with a double-breasted coat by the British-Nigerian designer.
Pulled from Coker’s fall 2024 collection, Middleton put on her Sundays best in a sharply tailored grey and white ensemble. The long, structured coat was cinched at the waist with a corset and paired with coordinated accessories: a matching fascinator, dangling pearl earrings, black handbag and grey pumps.
Her wardrobe embodied the designer’s signature ’60s style blended with West African influences. “The whole notion of the collection is about going back in order to push forward,” Tolu Coker told ESSENCE last year about her fall 2025 collection. The same stands for this fall 2024 coat, which is from a collection that embodied the nature of street hawkers, which her mother used to do in Lagos, Nigeria.
On Kate Middleton, the coat honored the union of Coker’s identity as a British Nigerian and paid respect to the President and First Lady of Nigeria. The style choice also proved just how intentional fashion is in politics—and just how much a simple grey coat can say.