GmbH's 10th Anniversary Show Reclaims Berlin's Erased Jewish Fashion History

GmbH presented its Spring/Summer 2027 collection in Berlin, marking the brand's tenth anniversary with a show that reclaimed the city's erased Jewish fashion history. Founders Benjamin A Huseby and Serhat Işık, who launched GmbH in 2016, researched Berlin's forgotten ready-to-wear industry centered on Hausvogteiplatz, which rivaled Paris in the 1920s-30s before being destroyed by the Nazi regime after 1933. Jewish designers, tailors, and entrepreneurs were forced to sell, exiled, deported, or murdered; companies were Aryanized. The collection drew from the brand's own archive and garments from Julia Schwarz's private collection, including a Clara Böhm design from the early 1930s. Silvered tracksuits and glinting surfaces evoked hand-beaded couture pieces. Musician Arca, an early collaborator, walked the runway. The show notes stated resistance against increased state repression of minority communities and the far right. GmbH previously opened its Autumn/Winter 2024 show with a speech calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and a free Palestine, featuring keffiyeh pieces made with Palestinian and Syrian refugees in Jordan's Jerash Gaza camp. Huseby and Işık emphasized that fashion is inherently political, citing the Nazi erasure of Berlin's fashion industry.