The Invitation: Banke Kuku at Milano Fashion Week

Banke Kuku has spent fifteen years checking off milestones, and this season it adds one more. The house enters the official digital calendar of Milano Fashion Week Women's Collection Spring/Summer 2027 with a film called The Invitation , which premiered on 28 September. Banke Kuku is one of three African brands presenting digitally on the official calendar this season. Image by Daniel Obasi The film was made in the gardens of Lufasi Park, Lagos, and that detail tells you everything about the house. Banke Kuku's ethos has been defined by colour, nature and work of the human hand, and recent collections have taken on forest conservation, ocean preservation, and the protection of wildlife. The new work comes with a commitment to plant ten thousand trees. In The Invitation , the brand treats nature as a collaborator, and the film is built around that relationship. Image by Daniel Obasi Fashion film has often been the side entrance for houses with something to show and nowhere to show it. Milan has changed that. The digital calendar is the official calendar, and a film on it sits on the main programme. "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," Banke Kuku says. The garden in Lagos and the calendar in Milan are now in the same conversation. Image by Daniel Obasi The Invitation is available to view on the Milano Fashion Week digital calendar.