Tia Adeola Exits Chrysalis in Cowrie Shells and Sheer Dresses for Fall/Winter 2025

Tia Adeola opted out of New York Fashion Week two years ago to make a short video for her Spring/Summer 2024 collection. Those clothes were all about transformation, and they were covered in butterflies, symbolizing the moment in her journey. The Nigeria-born and London-raised designer returned to New York on Sunday night with a runway show marking a decade in fashion. Fall/Winter 2025 marks her emergence from chrysalis.

One of the label's signatures is its ruffle details, and these remain a focal point in the new collection, incorporated into see-through skirts, pastel blue crop tops, and patches on trousers. The usual nakedness remains as well in sheer dresses, sleek minis with keyhole cutouts, and sensually sequined numbers. This runway show marked ten years in the industry for the New School alum, and she channeled her fashion metamorphosis into fresh silhouettes and codes honoring her Nigerian heritage.

"I'm grateful to still be doing what I love. What I wanted to do was bring a taste of Lagos, Nigeria to NYC [with this collection]," Teni "Tia" Adeola tells L'OFFICIEL backstage. A white maxi dress in Fall/Winter 2025 reads "Stop copying me" in bold, red lettering which is Adeola's sartorial clapback to fast fashion brands that imitate her work. "I get ripped off all the time," she says. The milestone collection also embraces a Nigerian wedding theme, brought to life in glamorously glittering dresses with feathered fans.

Many garments feature "traditional cowshed beads and coral beads, which carry rich meanings of royalty and ancestral connections, serve as both embellishments and cultural touch points," show notes explain. Hair, done by Joseph DiMaggio for Shokunin Clik, elevated every single look with intricate and sculptural braids, in addition to shells artfully sewn into cornrows.

Explore the full Tia Adeola Fall/Winter 2025 collection by clicking through the gallery below.