LES BENJAMINS Spring/Summer 2019 Collection

ROAD TO BALL

Exploring the balance between mind, body, and soul in the basketball game,

LES BENJAMINS’ Spring/Summer 2019 collection for men and women aims to unfold untold stories of youth culture.

This season, Bunyamin Aydin, LES BENJAMINS’ founder and creative director, takes familiar clothing codes from the basketball culture and re-contextualizes them in a multicultural setting, inviting the wearer to write their own narrative, to have the freedom to identify their own references, associations, and meaning.

« Growing up as a kid, I played in two basketball teams and I always wanted to do a collection inspired by basketball, » explains Aydin, whose latest collection ultimately juxtaposes influences from the traditional Far East and the global urban lifestyle. « I’m known for portraying a melting pot of culture and, immediately, I was hooked up to the idea of B. League, which is the Japanese basketball league. »

Set in Japan, the collection’s theme evolves around deconstructed hybrids of sportswear and tailoring archetypes. Classical streetwear codes are subverted to set new standards, and, as such, the formality of Japanese workwear is merged with athleisure in order to create new proportion and function.

Defined in three chapters, the collection’s garments narrate the entire cycle of a basketball game – from the basketball player’s mental preparation and endurance training to the final game in the court. In this context, meditation, strength, and performance are the collection’s spiritual and functional pillars. The key pieces are built with an elevated design sensibility, to last both in the court and on the streets.

Sticking to clean tonal colorways, the collection features bone white and grey hues that are paired with flashy pops of neon citrus, cobalt blue and gym red. The fabrics, an ingenious mixture of natural fibers and rip stop tech threads, are used to craft kimono-sleeved or wide-shoulder jackets, loose-fit jumpers, crop-tops, wide-leg track pants, and cycling and camo shorts that feature special camouflage and pinstripe patterns adorned with hand crafted knot details and jersey components.

In addition, Bunyamin Aydin revisited LES BENJAMINS’ own identity by incorporating a brand-new typographic print logo on a range of basketball court-inspired designs, where some perceive an empowering gesture and others see a graphic abstraction. The lookbook of this Spring/Summer 2019 collection was shot by Julien Boudet of BleuMode and styled by Vanille Verloes, who subtly merged the dynamic spirit of the men’s and women’s key pieces with an urban backdrop.

To express his affinity for real garments made for real people, Bunyamin Aydin has once again confronted the richness of street-culture and traditional heritage and has therewith created a multi-ethnic collection that is thoroughly rooted in contemporary fits.