Ciara in TUBO at Lagos Fashion Week: A Sculpted Tribute to the Iria Ceremony

We’ve always been drawn to the woman’s form, not as trend, but as truth. Her body, in all its strength and softness, is the beginning of every silhouette we sculpt. At TUBO, the woman's form isn’t just a technical achievement. It’s philosophy. It’s reverence.

Earlier this year, we created a bridal piece that centred the sculptural power of the woman’s form, a constant in TUBO’s design philosophy.  Read here. The silhouette was strong, intimate, and intentionally framed. That look resonated deeply with our audience, including SZA, who liked the post.

That design quietly resonated beyond our usual circles. Among the many who noticed was SZA, who liked the post, a small moment of recognition that reminded us how far culture travels when it is treated with care.

So when we got the call that Ciara would be in Lagos for Fashion Week, and would be wearing TUBO, it felt like a continuation, not a commission. We didn’t go looking for a new idea, we returned to the same heartbeat.

The dress she wore, sculpted in gold sequins and framed with soft plaid draping, carried the same intention. It wasn’t made to shock or perform. It was made to speak. To honour the tradition behind it and the woman within it.

With Ciara’s look, we took that foundation, our ongoing study of the woman’s form, and pushed it further, combining silhouette with story. We introduced George, a textile often tied in ceremonial settings, and layered in symbolic references to the Iria ceremony, where the female body is honoured and adorned in a rite of passage. The result was not just a silhouette, but a statement.

The Iria ceremony, still practised in parts of Okrika, marks a young woman’s transition into adulthood. Girls are camped, nourished, adorned, and eventually presented bare-chested to their communities, their bodies painted in intricate patterns that symbolise readiness, honour, and identity. The ceremony is not about visibility. It is about arrival. About being seen, not for appearance, but for essence.

At TUBO, we never try to replicate culture. We interpret it with respect, letting its shape and symbolism guide our hands without turning heritage into costume. What matters most is intention: that the woman wearing it feels held, empowered, and remembered.

Ciara’s TUBO look was quiet. Rooted. Sculpted for her body, but tied to a lineage far beyond it. It came to life not on a runway, but in Lagos, a place where culture, fashion, and identity are always in conversation.

And in this moment we are reminded of something deeper happening in fashion. A shift back to memory. To culture. To silhouette as story.

We’re proud to be part of that conversation.