GmbH presented its Fall Winter 2026 collection titled Doppelgänger during Intervention at Berlin Fashion Week, returning to the city it calls home. The collection emerges from a political and emotional climate shaped by fear, power, and violence, with its starting point rooted in a word that surfaced earlier this winter in Germany. “Friedensangst,” meaning fear of peace, entered public discourse as a description of anxiety within the boardroom of Germany’s largest arms manufacturer at the prospect of peace in Ukraine and the effect such an outcome could have on stock value. That moment exposed the distance between those in power and the human cost of perpetual war.
FALL WINTER 2026.27 MENSWEAR
Since its founding in 2016, GmbH has refused silence in the face of global atrocities. The brand practice is driven by reactions that range from anger to paralysis, from the urge to scream to the weight of grief. These emotional states shape the work season after season. The Fall Winter 2026 collection continues that trajectory, seeking beauty within darkness while addressing systems that profit from destruction and fear. Doppelgänger functions as a response to a reality shaped by men who sustain violence to maintain control and profit.
For its fourth show in Berlin, the brand turned toward its own early references, revisiting a close relationship with music and club culture. The design process drew inspiration from the experimental music scene in Berlin and Germany during the early 1980s, a period marked by industrial and synth sounds. Groups such as DAF and Einstürzende Neubauten served as key references, alongside the presence of Blixa Bargeld as a defining figure of that era. This music offered a framework for understanding a Berlin that existed before the designers’ time, when counterculture and utopian ideas shaped the city’s identity.
The collection traces personal and historical references to bring that earlier moment into the present. As the values associated with the Berlin of today face erosion through greed and repression, GmbH frames its work as an act of resistance. The designers describe fashion as a medium through which they continue to push back, using clothing to recall a time when the city carried different aspirations. Music and four poems anchored the design process, providing structure and emotional grounding throughout development.
Within Doppelgänger, garments operate as codes and signals of belonging, a recurring approach within the brand’s work. Clothing communicates shared values and collective memory, offering recognition within a hostile environment. The collection speaks directly to a world shaped by violence and fear, addressing the danger of repeating historical mistakes. Doppelgänger stands as a warning shaped through fashion, urging awareness of the forces that seek subjugation and control.
