WITH A schedule brimming with shows, you are guaranteed to miss a few here and there. But don’t worry, Glass has rounded up the collections that may have slipped from your radar!
Tolu Coker Spring-Summer 2025
Bridging the gap between London and Lagos, Tolu Coker’s spring-summer 2025 collection celebrated the beauty of her British-Nigerian heritage through an amalgamation of ready-to-wear, shoes and accessories.
Titled Olapeju, translating in Yoruba to the female version of “where wealth gathers”, and also the name of the designer’s mother, this season she looked inwards not only at her own origins but also at the rich impact of matriarchs on wider communities during the late 60s and 70s.
Community has been a key factor in Coker’s designs and for SS25 she hoped to translate the fusion of identity that occurs during migration into the looks. Equestrian jackets and jodhpurs ballon-hem trousers nodded to North Kensington’s Westway Stables, cinched waists reflected Yoruba codes, and wallpaper prints of her late-father’s photographs of West London solidified her knack for storytelling.
Noting aptly, the Coker finished by saying: “Clothes are never a commodity by themselves, they belong to an environment, expression and celebration of culture, a documentation of the influence of the past today in the present”.
S.S. Daley Spring-Summer 2025
Shortly after winning the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design, Steven Stokey-Daley presented his debut womenswear collection. Still a fairly new brand, having only launched during lockdown, S.S. Daley has swiftly climbed the ranks of “ones-to-watch” to the point that client Harry Styles decided to invest. Up until now his menswear has boomed, as you can tell, so to cross to womenswear seemed like the natural next step.
Taking inspiration from British artist Gluck, who had a style synonymous for being well-tailored and fascinatingly utilitarian and yet painted lovers and friends who were characteristically feminine, the designer felt an affinity to him as he began with menswear.
Speaking on this, he wrote: “Gluck used clothing to curate their identity, then observed the fashion of a lifetime of lovers. This collection is about the universe around Gluck, allowing us to go keep into the techniques of womenswear. As with our men’s collections, every piece matters, designed to create a full wardrobe”.
Soft tailoring punctuates the collection paying homage to the artist, whilst pleated long-skirts, bias-cut slip dresses are printed with florals and sheer silk organza oversized smocks reinvent the classic brand motifs we already know.
Marques’Almeida Spring-Summer 2025
Bringing historic grandeur to modern rebellion, Marques’Almeida returns with a lavish collection that plays around with 17th century Dutch paintings, Baroque influencers and contemporary subversion.
Known for their raw fabric tension with frayed hems, cut-outs and asymmetric cut designs, SS25 broadened the brand’s horizons as the classics were infused with high-neck Victorian ruffled shirts, mini dresses structured from tapestry and denim two pieces with firm bodices.
Portuguese designers Marta Marques and Paulo Almeida wrote in their shows notes: “You learn it all, you dominate it all, you respect and research it all, and then you can subvert it”. The duo certainly did but in their most mature manner to date through bringing their loyal fanbase what they want whilst captivating a new audience with an updated, more refined version of M’A.
Aartivijay Gupta Spring-Summer 2025
With a reputation on the rise after winning Elle India’s Design Visionary of the Year award for 2024, Aarti Vijay Gupta’s focus on her homeland is turning fruitful as the vibrancy of India’s dynamic landscape remains a constant source of inspiration.
For spring-summer 2025, the designer turned to the most northern part of the country, Kashmir, to translate the abundant landscape of the mountainous area and the undulating green valleys to a collection that balanced fashion with nature.
Considered “heaven on earth”, she found this out herself upon visiting the region in 2022 to work with artisans to create papier-mâche and namda embroidery. Though the savoir-faire at hand was impressive, she found her surroundings bewildering. Fast forward to this season, and the designer has brought the hills, blooms and kashidakari needlework motifs to London Fashion Week.
Linen, silk and crêpe fluctuate as main material choices, emulating the same ebb and flow of Kashmir whilst maintaining the contemporary silhouette of the brand. Though never straying too far from her roots, Aarti Vijay Gupta’s discipline of dancing between cultures has been and remains her strongest asset.
by Imogen Clark