March 7, 2023 |
Benjamin A. Huseby and Serhat Isik have previously described their joint label, GmbH, as “a project to decolonise our minds by researching our own heritage, our own culture.” The stories and experiences of marginalised communities have guided the pair’s collections, which have touched on queerness, religion, sexual liberation, and conversations about race. Though when it came to their AW23 collection, debuted without a title, the designers were keen to express this season came without a personal narrative. “What happens if we allow ourselves the illusion of being designers who do not have to discuss their identities, or trauma as part of a collection, just like white designers can?” asked the pair.
Instead, they focused solely on cut and silhouette, as they continued to abandon their club wear beginnings in favour of couture-inspired silhouettes. Their cast – members of Berlin’s City Ballet Corp, who performed to the sounds of musical outfit Labour – came wearing satin wool suits with satin stoles, faux fur bombers and leather jackets equipped with the brand’s signature wraparound tailoring, worn with croc-effect, thigh-high riding boots. As the duo continue to develop their design lexicon at Trussardi, their GmbH womenswear arsenal has expands, now including sensual gowns fashioned from velvet and sheer mesh and the brand’s first handbag, borrowing its strappy detailing of the brand’s eveningwear. Womanly details, like off-the-shoulder tops and giant bows, found their way into the menswear too, prepped and primed to dress the brand’s cult following.
Photography courtesy of GmbH.
