Should fashion be political? If one had asked Katharine Hamnett or Vivienne Westwood, they would have emphatically answered yes as they saw fashion as means to draw attention to environmental and human rights issues. The GmbH designers Serhat Işık and Benjamin Huseby did the same last night with their closing show of Paris men‘s fashion week. They just ventured on a more slippery territory – the war in Gaza and the injustice done to Palestinians from their historical and current point of view. They read a speech from a lantern before the show bringing the room to an uncomfortable silence while Huseby clearly choked and nearly broke down in tears. Major compliment to the duo for taking a stance in an age when designers are removed from major online stores for making politically motivated statements. It’s a minefield as the two sides to the story of this war hold their ground. The terrific collection they sent out afterwards spoke volumes about their feelings. Anchored in their signature dancefloor outfit of tight shorts and long-sleeve T-Shirts over leather pants with their signature two zippers, the collection had its highlight in its inventive cut out tailoring, great boots and beautiful knitwear. The designers have their focus on social inequality, multiculturalism and other topics and then translate that into sartorial clothing. They used keffiyehs, the traditional headdress worn by men from parts of the Middle East throughout the show which came form the Jerash refugee camp in Jordan where Palestinians and Syrian refugees embroider them by hand. But even the keffiyeh is politically charged at the moment which is a clear sign of the designers’ courage. 

Inventive tailoring

Heavy use of the keffiyeh motif

Beautiful knitwear