Guardian of Style, Folake Coker, Hits 50

So many things can change over time, while so many others remain the same. Consider Folake Coker, fashion designer and style hegemon. After so many years, she has been sharpened into a brilliant manager of businesses. But she remains one of the most beautiful amazons in Nigeria, with enough polish and panache to launch ten thousand ships.

These are great times for Coker. A few days ago, she turned 50 years old, documenting the start of her golden years. But this is only a chronological phenomenon as most of her life has been spent on the golden shores of life, letting the breeze of the years softly file her into the radiant lady of elegance she is today.

What is yesterday’s memory in the face of today’s joys? For Coker, it is a matter of the present outshining the past. Even though her marriage to a Lagos Bigman, Folly Coker, hit the rocks, it did not send her spiralling into obscurity and oblivion. Instead, Coker’s fortune is beaming from multiple angles, proving her to be yesterday’s best and today’s perfect.

Her looks might send the wrong message, but her words will not. She is no airhead but an accomplished businesswoman. She has continued to do only grand things with her brainchild, Tiffany Amber, over which she serves as the Creative Director. Across the fashion industry in Nigeria, she is regarded as one of the handful of guardians responsible for deciding what fits and what does not.

At 50, Coker cannot be described as greying, except the concept is stretched to imply that the person in question is growing wiser. Akindele’s fortunes have only grown broader, deepening her influence in the fashion industry and beyond.

She has done well for herself. But who knew that a woman at 50 could look and sound so brilliant? Only everybody who knows Coker.