Few brands manage to tap into culture in the way that Bünyamin Aydin, or his Istanbul-born streetwear brand Les Benjamins has. The brand has carved out a unique positioning. Bridging the crossroad between luxury and contemporary streetwear whilst celebrating cultural identity and respecting Eastern traditions.
Aydin has been on Esquire Middle East’s radar for some time. He was awarded our Fashion Designer of the Year Award back in 2018 at the Man At His Best Awards. We also flew out to celebrate the designers retail store debut in Istanbul. In partnership with his team and wife Lamia AlOtaishan Aydin – who is head of Les Benjamins womenswear – the brand has recently unveiled a fragrance collection, new Mall of the Emirates retail store and jewellery line. Esquire sits down with Bünyamin Aydin for a long-overdue catch up.
Esquire: How are you settling into your life in Dubai? What effect has this change in location had on your creative process and design approach?
Bunyamin Aydin: Dubai feels like my second home and having close friends here makes life easier. I’m living between Istanbul and Dubai, which is very inspiring as I get exposed to two cities. In terms of the creative design approach, I do have to visit Istanbul quite frequently as I must be hands-on picking fabrics, reviewing samples of my designs and giving my final collections to producers. Missing my team in Istanbul and having to travel between the office locations are probably my two biggest challenges. My close circles and communities in Dubai and Istanbul are what motivate me.
ESQ: Your wife Lamia is now the Head of Womenswear at Les Benjamins, are there challenges to working with your wife? How have you navigated this?
BA: If you look at different fashion houses there are many examples of couples working together. We are both Libras which helps, so we complete each other. Being in a creative couple means you always have someone that you can lean on, which every creative needs. Of course, there are moments when we disagree, but we always find a way to move past it.
Les Benjamins’ big Dubai moves
ESQ: Why did you decide to open the store in Dubai? How does it differ from your original first store concept in Istanbul?
BA: Dubai has always welcomed me and Les Benjamins. The city welcomes eastern youth and creatives. I feel like I’m at home and for me that was the most important reason behind deciding on Dubai. Our friends that live in Dubai and community are part of our story and that’s what counts the most above all else. Shoutout to my Dubai family.
ESQ: You recently launched a series of Les Benjamin fragrances. How did you approach this task? Was this a challenge for you, or were there similarities to how you approached a new collection?
BA: This was actually Lamia’s idea and she was our Les Benjamins nose for the project. Lamia and I wanted the Les Benjamins fragrances to reflect our childhood and bring back notes that reminded us of our upbringing. Whether it is a note from our grandparent’s homes or the streets we grew up on. Each note brings back a scent of nostalgia.
ESQ: Why launch 10 at once? Do you have a favourite can’t you choose?
BA: We love mixing fragrances and that’s what we want our community to do as well. When you mix notes from different fragrances you create new variances, which makes it even more exciting. My favourite one is “Dry Amber”, and Lamia loves “Dry Amber mixed with Vanilla Sky” and “Liquid Gold mixed with Oriental Express”.
ESQ: As if this wasn’t enough, you also launched the brand’s first-ever unisex jewellery line. Why jewellery?
BA: It’s a funny story; I designed Les Benjamins jewellery and those samples never made it into a collection. I was only 18 years old, and I was sampling apparel and jewellery but I ended up deciding to focus on ready to wear. That’s why jewellery has always been a big dream category for me to launch. I initially started with jewellery design in the grand bazaar.
ESQ: Despite all this accomplishment, you appear as focused as ever. What does the next few years have in store for Les Benjamin’s. What is left on the to-do list?
BA: Focus is a great word and I learned how to work on multiple collections and categories at the same time without losing my DNA and focus. We will be expanding into new categories and our exciting jewellery, and fragrances will expand also. I do believe that doing too much can be dangerous. That’s why we always try to go step by step even though it may seem like we are doing a lot, everything is planned out in detail thanks to my team. You can expect new Les Benjamins flagship stores opening around the world soon.
ESQ: Do you feel proud of how successful the brand has become? Did you always know you would succeed?
BA: I do feel proud, however, I’m the kind of person that also tries to keep both feet on the ground. I’m never happy with myself and I always try to improve. It’s a blessing and a curse. My friends, and family always remind me that I should feel proud of myself, but I usually never think about it like this.
ESQ: What are the challenges of being an entrepreneur you wish you knew before starting the brand?
BA: Being a creative entrepreneur/designer it’s always a challenge between your creative vision and business growth. Your vision needs to always be protected, however, to grow you do need to bend your vision sometimes. Finding the right balance between my creative vision and my team’s operational goals is my biggest challenge. I always go with my vision and Les Benjamins DNA. Now at Les Benjamins we have 85 team members from different departments. When I first started my brand, I was alone and making most decisions just by myself, now I can focus on the actual design process.
ESQ: How do you keep engaged with the changing cultural zeitgeists that engage your consumers? What trends and movements are exciting you at the moment?
BA: I love fashion and technology and seeing what is happening with NFTs and metaverse is inspiring me. Sustainability, inclusivity and NFTs are three topics that are my focus daily. Seeing BMW design a car that can change colours really opens new boundaries for design. I’m imagining jackets that can be controlled to change colour. These are of course all concepts, but I love daydreaming about the future. Let’s see where the future will take us. I’m all in for gamification and innovation.
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