June 28, 2021 |
For SS22, GmbH’s Benjamin Alexander Huseby and Serhat Işık present ‘White Noise’, a witty, impactful exploration of whiteness, and the privileges that come with it. “GmbH has always been a project to decolonise our minds by researching our own heritage, our own culture. We’re so used to the idea of being othered,” says Işık. “This season we really wanted to question do white people actually consider themselves as white? Do they see themselves as white? Do they other themselves the same way?”
The design duo, who were recently appointed the new co-creative directors of Trussardi, set about appropriating the appropriators; toying with the idea of a cultural safari. Whereas white designers through the nineties were prone to basing their collections on trips to Japan, or India, the GmbH boys have become “tourists of white culture”, says Işık. “There’s a dark humoristic undertone here.”
Looking to activities usually reserved for the white, upper class – skiing, horse-riding, etc – the pair approached the tropes associated with such using their GmbH design language, channeled through a queer and BIPOC perspective. Models came wearing rouched, knitted tops, kinky horseriding boots and gentle-hued jumpers which were draped over the shoulders of belly-baring shirts. The brand’s dramatic, shoulder-wrapped tailoring was encased in denim for the first time, worn alongside lavender vegan-leather trousers and a shirt, jean and tan over-the-shoulder bag combo the pair jokingly call “the Princess Diana going to the country club”.
The collection comes complete with a Free Palestine top made with queer Palestinian label Trashy Clothing, as well as a slew of faux fur coats which will become part of the label’s fledging demi-couture line. “The response has been great,” affirms Huseby. “The last collection we made these pieces out of necessity because we really wanted to do a show.”
“It was very much going against everything that everyone told us to do,” adds Işık. “We just want people to be able to dream with fashion.”
Photography courtesy of GmbH.
