A Tale of Two Cities: Benjamin Huseby looks out towards the future of GmbH and Trussardi

by Angel Nemov on 28 October 2022

Coming out of two back-to-back collections in Milan and Paris, juggling their brand GmbH with heritage house Trussardi, designers Benjamin Huseby and Serhat Isik aren't stopping anytime soon. Huseby speaks to content editor Angel Nemov about what the future holds.

Coming out of two back-to-back collections in Milan and Paris, juggling their brand GmbH with heritage house Trussardi, designers Benjamin Huseby and Serhat Isik aren't stopping anytime soon. Huseby speaks to content editor Angel Nemov about what the future holds.

Sleep is not the common thread for Serhat Isik and Benjamin Huseby's juggling act at GmbH and Trussardi. As we speak via Zoom from Huseby’s Berlin apartment, one half of the German-based designer duo seems to be missing from the call. 'Serhat is feeling run down, so he will not be able to join', explains Huseby, who emphasises the intense couple of weeks they have both had. They recently showed their second collection for Trussardi, having been announced as creative directors for the Milan-based heritage brand last year. Just six days later, the duo appeared in Paris to unveil their latest collection for the label they founded in 2016. Indeed, running two of the most exciting brands in the current fashion zeitgeist can be pretty tough.

After a quick rise on the fashion scene in 2016, presenting the idea of garments as spiritual protection through gender fluid structures brought into menswear with their label GmbH (a German abbreviation that translates to 'company with limited liability'), Huseby and Isik's appointment at Trussardi in May 2021 signified the beginning of a creative reshuffle amongst the old school, outdated fashion notions of the Milanese maisons which has had a ripple effect, seen at neighbouring brands Bally and Salvatore Ferragamo. Debuting their first Trussardi collection in February, the pair did away with outdated Italian stereotypes like reworking the age-old Piumino jacket, slashing it and dropping the silhouette into an excitingly striking garment, emphasising Trussardi’s ethos of craftsmanship for a new era.

GmbH S/S 23
Trussardi S/S 23

Speaking to Huseby, it quickly becomes apparent that the biggest hurdle the designers had to face was the structural imbalance of the Milan fashion system. The harsh, uncomfortable truth was that upon their appointment at Trussardi, they did not stumble upon a single person of colour across the entire structure of the company. Coming to terms with this sobering reality in regards to Italian fashion’s slow-changing relationship to diversity, was understandably difficult for Isik and Huseby, especially considering that they are both sons to immigrants. In our conversation, I wanted to find out how things might have changed with two collections under their belt, and how their balance of creative juices between GmbH and Trussardi have informed their point of view as designers.

Cancelling their GmbH show during Paris’s menswear week back in June gave the pair time to explore a new frontier of design, experimenting with how they tackle a global business like Trussardi. Premiering their first womenswear collection for GmbH, and showing during the densely packed French womenswear schedule introduced their newest challenge, which was all about where the GmbH woman fits into the bigger plot.

Curiously navigating and course correcting where needed, both Benjamin Huseby and Serhat Isik seem to be furiously focused on creating the perfect balancing act between two forces of fashion. Speaking with Huseby in this video interview, they reflect on the past year in a candid conversation about the future of gender-fluid dressing and the politics behind the Italian way of crafting.

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