iamisigo ss27 | sacred ecologies

Bea Vanhala.

“Everyone will be able to get in. I promise!” screamed one of Iamisigo’s Spring/Summer 2027 show organisers over the wall-to-wall crowd at The Lab, as guests waited outside of the show’s doors. While they waited, dancer Maji Miyake-Mugler provided plenty of entertainment, as she performed aerial tricks in platform heels with a pole in the centre – marking herself in chalk and paint along the way. While creative director Bubu Ogisi’s recent show, ‘Sacred Ecologies,’ like shows of the past, was a feat of avant-garde technique and dramatic showmanship, an adjective Ogisi holds dear when discussing her work, it is also a continuation of a narrative of indigenous reclamation.

Founded in 2009 and based between Lagos, Nigeria, Nairobi, Kenya and Accra, Ghana, Iamisigo describes itself more as an art practice than a Westernised version of what a traditional fashion brand should be. The practice is a best-in-class sampling of West and East African craftsmanship. Lauded as a 2026 LVMH Prize semi-finalist and a 2025 Zalando Visionary Award recipient, Iamisigo has been the only brand of its kind to show on the Copenhagen Fashion Week calendar.

​“It’s representing myself, but also, outside of that, experimenting with showing people a new perspective on where I am from. It’s not only about me being here. It’s also about me being here to draw people back to where I’m coming from,” says Ogisi.  

Bea Vanhala.

Bea Vanhala.

Bea Vanhala.

​Inspired by the fiction novel, ‘Wizard of the Crow’ by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, the collection’s framework is built around a deeply rooted social ecological consciousness. “The focus was mainly how to reverence the land in everything we create,” says Ogisi. This was consistent with the construction of the collection, which consisted of banana fibres, wooden beads, sisal, recycled aluminium and glass from across the African continent, using natural dyes and woven in Kenya; nothing was left to waste, including the visuals.

​And when those metal sliding doors did finally open, a scene lay before the show’s guests. One by one, as if awakened from a spell, models leisurely stepped up to a podium. Styled by KK Obi in looks one more fantastical than the next – a nude textured coat with lattice crocheted trousers, a beaded cape and matching bucket hat under a wedding veil, with a similar style available in black, a circle-shaped dress and skirt set, a metallic paillettes matching mermaid skirt, bag and top reminiscent of knight’s armour. The pieces took form, becoming living, breathing organisms with bodies inside them.    

Bea Vanhala.

Bea Vanhala.

​“I think for me everything has to be so maximalist,” says Ogisi. “We need to give ourselves this idea of adornment,” she continues, comparing maximalism to spiritual alignment.  

​This is the essence of Iamisigo. A kind of mad fashion fervour that happens when the heart captures the imagination.

Discover the Spring/Summer 2027 collection here.

photography. courtesy of Bea Vanhala
words. Malcolm Thomas