Nigerian-British luxury fashion house Banke Kuku made its debut on the official digital calendar of Milano Fashion Week Women’s Collection Spring/Summer 2027 with the premiere of its new fashion film, The Invitation, on Monday, 28 September 2026.
Filmed in the gardens of Lufasi Park in Lagos, the film brought Banke Kuku’s visual language of colour, craftsmanship and nature into the international fashion week programme. Its inclusion on the official calendar of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI) marked a significant international moment for the Lagos-based house and placed its work within one of fashion’s established global platforms.
Banke Kuku was one of only three brands presenting digitally on the official calendar for the first time during the season. The digital format allowed the house to bring its Nigerian perspective to an international audience while keeping Lagos and its natural landscape at the centre of the presentation.
An Invitation From Lagos
The title The Invitation reflected the intention behind the film. Rather than presenting African fashion only through garments, Banke Kuku used the film to invite viewers into the landscapes, craft and creative ideas that have influenced the house since its founding in 2011.
The gardens of Lufasi Park provided the setting for this visual exploration. Nature was not treated only as a background for the collection. It became part of the story and a central element of the film’s identity.
“We called it The Invitation because it is exactly that: an invitation to the world to experience the beauty, depth and craftsmanship of African fashion, told through the landscapes that inspire us,” said Banke Kuku, Founder and Creative Director.
The film focused on the three pillars that have defined the house since its establishment: colour, craftsmanship and nature. Together, they offered a visual expression of the brand’s approach to contemporary African luxury.
Nature as Collaborator
The relationship between fashion and the natural world has remained central to Banke Kuku’s work. The house’s recent collections have addressed forest conservation, ocean preservation and wildlife protection.
The Invitation continued this approach by placing nature within the creative process itself. The landscape of Lufasi Park became an active part of the film, connecting the clothes to the environment that surrounded them.
This relationship also gave the film a clear connection to Banke Kuku’s Nigerian identity. Instead of separating the fashion from its environment, the film presented the two together, allowing the landscape of Lagos to shape the way the collection was experienced.
Lagos on the Milano Fashion Week Calendar
Banke Kuku’s appearance on the official Milano Fashion Week digital calendar added another chapter to the international growth of Nigerian fashion. The presentation connected a Lagos-based luxury house with an audience beyond its home market while retaining the cultural and environmental references that have shaped its work.
For a house founded in Lagos in 2011, the Milano Fashion Week debut also showed how digital fashion week platforms can create space for different forms of fashion presentation. The Invitation did not rely on a traditional runway. Instead, it used film, landscape and visual storytelling to communicate the identity of the house.
The result was a presentation that began in Lagos and reached the international fashion calendar through Milan. At its centre was an invitation to look at African luxury through its colour, craft, landscape and relationship with nature.
The Invitation premiered digitally on 28 September 2026 through the official Milano Fashion Week platform of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana.
