Dressing Royalty, Preserving Legacy
There are moments in a designer’s life that stay with you forever. For me, one of those moments was being asked to design for the coronation of Olori Atuwatse III. Since then, I have had the privilege of creating her coronation looks each year, and every time it feels just as significant as the first. These are not garments made for a single occasion. They are part of history, sewn into the story of a throne, a kingdom, and a legacy.
When I think about why I began designing, it was never just about creating beautiful clothes. It was about making meaning visible. It was about giving fabric a voice. Every woman deserves to wear something that doesn’t just flatter her form but honours her identity. Bespoke gives us that possibility to weave personal stories into timeless design.
With the Olori’s coronation pieces, every choice mattered. The fabrics, damask, lace, aso-oke, and hand-beaded embellishments were drawn from the same traditions that dressed our mothers and grandmothers. They carry centuries of storytelling. But the silhouettes were deliberately modern: structured yet fluid, regal yet feminine, allowing her presence to feel both timeless and current.
Coronations have always been milestones for fashion, from Dior shaping post-war femininity to Chanel redefining elegance in times of change. For us, this coronation was not only about intricate beadwork, symbolism, and storytelling woven into each outfit, it was about partnering with a woman who deeply values what African fashion means to the world. Olori Atuwatse III has consistently celebrated and championed African design, treating fashion not as ornament but as cultural preservation and global influence. That is why creating her coronation pieces felt almost like a co-creation, a dialogue between her vision and ours, rooted in heritage and carried into history.
This is the essence of African luxury. True luxury is not about excess. It is about depth, about craftsmanship, about carrying something that will outlive the season. These pieces will sit in archives long after the moment has passed. They will be remembered not only as what she wore, but as what they meant. That, to me, is sustainability at its core, preserving culture through design, ensuring that what we create continues to speak long after we are gone.
As African designers, we stand at an incredible intersection. The world is watching. There is an appetite for creativity that is rooted in authenticity, that does not mimic but instead teaches, preserves, and redefines. I believe our responsibility is not only to dress women beautifully but to preserve legacies and project the confidence of our heritage on a global stage.
Dressing royalty has only reinforced what I have always believed: that every woman deserves to feel like she belongs in history. At TUBỌ, we don’t only make clothes. We honour the form of the woman, we preserve her story, and we design pieces that are built to last far beyond their moment.