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The new sustainable brand in the London fashion week game WORDS BY VIKTORIA BIELAWA
T
he Turkish-sister-double-act is taking the sustainability world of fashion by storm with their Harem London SS21 collection, which they presented at the digital London Fashion Week.
Merging cities of Istanbul and London, the streetwear brand changed up their style for the new season by dipdying the entire collection by hand in their Dalston studio, allowing for a unique gradient for each piece. The spectrum of colours is hand-crafted from 100% organic and up-cycled materials from their previous collections. Minimal – yet vibrant. The SS21 collection is a true ray of joy and comfort to the last few months. Taking their Turkish heritage with a contemporary London spin, the designs are a journey of growth through the lives of Harem London sisters. Below, I speak to the design-duo, Dee and Begum Ozturk, about their heritage inspirations, the pressures of design, and the importance of sustainability for the future of the industry. How has lockdown treated you both? Dee Ozturk - In the beginning, it was difficult. When you produce something, you can't really do much at home, but then we got used to it. We try to be cautious at the studio and keep our distance. We’re getting this new system. How was it designing an entirely new collection over lockdown? That must have been a challenge... DO - That was difficult. As a designer of the collection, I always get my inspiration from the streets. So, whenever I feel like I have the designer's block, I would go out for a walk and be around people, get inspired by the amazing diversity in London. Whenever I wanted to create something new, I would travel back to Turkey; to my roots, and do some research, but obviously I couldn’t travel. Turkey has a huge history; it's made of seven parts, and each part has its own traditions. When I wasn't able to travel, that was very, very difficult. We were even considering of maybe skipping this collection, because we didn't know what the fashion scene is gonna be. 36
PHOTOGRAPHY BY HAREM LONDON Begum Ozturk - We had a different kind of stress compared to the physical shows. We wanted to do something different and bit more interactive, as our physical events are always very interactive, because of my sister's [Dee] theatre background. She always likes to get in touch with the clients and the audience. DO - That's another thing whenever you have a live show, you can always improvise if stuff goes wrong. But when it's digital, you're very limited. BO - Being a small brand, sometimes you have only one shot. How do you feel about London Fashion Week being digital? Do you think or want it to continue even after the pandemic? DO - This is interesting. I think there's a good side that London Fashion Week slowed down. But being able to do something live is a completely different feeling. I would much prefer having something live, where I can be present, explain, and answer questions. Every time we try to do something, we create an atmosphere of our environment, our habitat, where we share, but if it's digital, you use less of your senses. Where else if it's a live show - you can smell things, you can hear things, or you can touch things, see the texture. I think that's very important. So, I would love to go back to the live events. BO - During the physical events, you can see people's faces and how they react, and you can talk to them. It’s really tricky. The advantages are that we can push ourselves to different levels. I think that the industry is out-dated, maybe there's a different world to discover now. But the priority now is obviously everyone's health. DO - When you think about it, it doesn't have to be either one or the other - you can always mix the two aspects. That means being creative, I think. A good advantage of doing a digital thing is that you're able to reach a wider audience. So, there's pros and cons to both sides, I think.
