For AW22, Berlin-based label GmbH contemplates the relationships between Islamic dress codes, queerness and the high-craft of clothesmaking.
collection, is “an object that is thought to have protective powers and to bring good luck” — something that we could all do with, we’re sure you’ll agree. For Benjamin Alexander Huseby and Serhat Işık, though, thinking of fashion in terms of protection is hardly new — indeed, you could claim that they’ve been exploring the talismanic properties of dress since their earliest days — crafting clothes that serve as a figurative “armour, both spiritually and physically speaking,” Serhat says.
Departing from an Ottoman soldier’s undergarments from the 16th century they discovered while researching — decorated with protective, hand-painted calligraphy and intended to be worn beneath the armour in battle — Serhat was reminded of thehis grandfather used to write for members of the village he lived in Turkey — “protective inscriptions written in Arabic, that are worn either pinned to your undergarment or as jewellery around your neck,” he explains.
, particularly those that peppered Serhat’s upbringing in a practicing Muslim household. They inform jacquard and leather-effect tunics, Serhat notes, and thecaps worn by men to mosque.
For one thing, “if this were a womenswear show, the idea of a kaftan with thigh-high boots would not be provocative at all,” Benjamin notes, “but I think seeing a guy without trousers, and just this little sliver of skin on the upper thigh, it becomes very seductive,” calling the gendered assumptions we irrationally foist upon artfully assembled cloth into question.