5 minutes with...DB Berdan
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Hype streetwear, fashion week regular and seen on celebrities: DB Berdan has arrived
The LGBTQI Turkish streetwear brand has been breaking boundaries for years, their garments are regularly spotted on celebrities and fashion influences alike. Famous faces include Hayley Kiyoko (known as Lesbian Jesus) to Zach Herron (boyband royalty) and seen in recent Ubikwist and Cosmo fashion campaigns, DB Berdan is not going anywhere.
After joining the Camden Market cobbles in November last year as a pop-up, they’ve recently walked at London Fashion Week and are currently in the midst of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Istanbul. We caught the busy mother-daughter duo, Begum and Deniz for 5 minutes…
Tell us about yourselves?
We are a mother and daughter built matriarchal company. After her 16 years of working life, Deniz Berdan founded DB Berdan in 2012 and as the daughter joined her after she graduated from LCF costume for performance in 2015.
We are actually three generations of working woman starting from grandmother, a clothing maker. We’ve always seen a strong sense of womanhood in our family so we’ve always stayed strong. We’ve never shied away from expressing our selves.
What’s the history of DB Berdan?
DB Berdan was founded in Istanbul and was created in 2013. We did our first runway show in LFW Fashion Scout. We always had this sarcastic vibe to the brand and had something to say each time. That’s how we can cope with injustices. We always have a story and a message to tell and the best way to tell it with is print.
We are proud advocators of the LGBTQ community when Pride was banned from the streets of Istanbul, we brought the pride march to our catwalk in protest and in celebration of diversity in our country in support of our community.
How did you decide on working together as a mother-daughter duo?
It wasn’t simply a decision but more of a continuous hard work of women for 3 generations. We think how us being a mother and daughter relationship really shines through to DB Berdan being a community oriented. We really emphasize on creating our own family by embracing misfits of our people.
You recently walked for LFW, how was it?
It went really well. We’ve received great comments on our cause. Our message has been received so well and we felt such acceptance and love.
How do you see fashion as a tool to bring LGBTQI rights and politics to the forefront?
Clothing is not just a necessity that you cover yourself with but it’s also a communication tool, a social interaction with others. The first way to tell other humans who you are or where you stand for in this life. DB Berdan is our creative tool to really emphasise and spread the word on the message of gender equality.
Why did you choose Camden Market as a location for your pop-up?
Camden for us is not just a cool shopping district for unique clothing but it also holds great memories of belonging for us. We used to come here and shop or simply hang out around the area a lot. It’s great to be back and to be having a store here for other newcomers to explore the feel of a community.
What’s next for you?
We are constantly doing new projects. Our next project will be about Pride. We are getting ready to support and to be able to give back to the community more.