For their SS18 campaign, Berlin label GmbH decided to assemble a cast of models close to the designers’ own story. Serhat Isik and Benjamin Alexander Huseby (also the photographer behind the campaign) dubbed their SS18 collection ‘Europe Endless’, seeking out a European future that refutes the concept of borders or nationalism. With fathers immigrating to Europe from Pakistan and Turkey, the label founders wanted to show the children of those who reconstructed post-war Germany – the ‘Gastarbeiter’ as they are sometimes sneeringly called.
(c) Benjamin Alexander Huseby for GmbH
The models, whose parents come from places like Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and India, are posed in a way harking back to Richard Avedon’s cult Versace campaigns from the 80s and 90s. The idea behind it being a desire to see brown men and women in a campaign the likes of which the designers never saw growing up. Isik and Huseby describe to Dazed the notion of immigrant children being told they’re European but also that they don’t truly belong as a driving concept. One of the models, Emman Debattista, states on Instagram: "I still always get asked 'Where are you from? No, but where are you really from?'". If that ain't my life. Looking forward to see where the brand goes next.
GmbH will be showing their AW18 collection on January 16 at 8 PM during Paris Fashion Week.
Credits
Photography: Benjamin Alexander Huseby
Stylist: Emilie Kareh
Hair: Naoki Komiya
Make-up: Athena Paginton
Models: Emman Debattista, Sahar Amager, Jeenu M and Moses Singh
Production: Rep Agency
