Jerry Lorenzo’s luxury streetwear label Fear of God may be just the hybrid of business and casual fashion that we desire in the modern age. Lorenzo’s work has attracted the attention of many, including fashion and music superstar Kanye West, as it aims to make high-end fashion both comfortable and functional. Additionally, Lorenzo is drawing attention to what it means for a black man to be in the American fashion industry, a crown he wears with much pride.
The Seventh Collection
In a post-COVID world, where the definition of a ‘workplace’ has been re-defined and re-imagined, so too has our definition of business attire. Fear of God’s new release, the Seventh Collection, really plays with this concept of what is now understood as “appropriate” for work and including for the first time, the concept of everyday comfort throughout the day, whether in the office or the virtual office.
Lorenzo describes his luxury style as “solution based”, in that every look serves a function, rather than creating looks for a catwalk that are largely perceived as both impractical and unattainable.
Comprised of trans-seasonal, uni-sex looks, everything Lorenzo produces is clean and monochromatic. He describes all pieces from the Seventh Collection to The New York Times as being, “elegant no matter what they do”. Lorenzo has often described the style of Fear of God as being some sort of middle ground between 90s hip-hop and Tom Cruise’s aesthetic in Risky Business. Lorenzo’s magic is in his ability to make tracksuit pants look as appropriate within an office environment as an Ermenegildo Zegna suit.
Lorenzo’s Personal Style
Lorenzo’s personal style is so often seen as effortless, even though in an interview with Elevation YTH he describes his fashion inspiration as “uniformity”. Drawing inspiration from figures like Steve Jobs to Ghandi, he loves people who have found what look works best for them and have unapologetically made it their everyday uniform. In an interview with sneaker fanatic, Joe La Puma from Complex, this fashion philosophy is similarly conveyed in his sneaker collection.
Lorenzo explains, “when I’m picking a shoe I’m trying to find something that I can buy multiple pairs of, so I don’t have to think about it in the morning”.
He describes the Adidas Y3 Pure Book as his favourite pair of shoes as, “they were something I could wear with everything in my closet”, moving the casual into the corporate. We can see Lorenzo’s desire for ease and adaptability within his wardrobe through each piece of the Seventh Collection.
Prior to this collection, Fear of God caught the attention of many big time designers as Lorenzo’s career prospered, including that of Kanye West, founder of luxury streetwear brand Yeezy. A fan of some of Lorenzo’s work from his first collection, West offered Lorenzo an opportunity to work with him on an A.P.C Collection in Paris. This was a huge step in Lorenzo’s career, in which West allowed him to learn and prosper in one of the most highly regarded brands in the fashion industry.
The Conscience Behind the Clothing
An integral part to the Fear of God brand is Lorenzo’s pride in his race. He has stated many times that the aesthetic of his brand is about bringing black American streetwear from Los Angeles into the consciousness of the high-end fashion world.
For Lorenzo, the material is inherently a reflection of the political. During his interview with The New York Times he emphasises how his race has made his perspective on the fashion world unique. Lorenzo draws on the example of Treyvon Martin, and how his choice to wear his hood up was perceived as ‘dangerous’ and ultimately contributed to his death. A fashion choice a white American would never have to think twice about. Lorenzo makes the point that as a black man “how we present ourselves is a determining factor of survival at a lot of levels”.
Fear of God aims to celebrate black culture and ensure black voices are heard throughout all sectors of the high-end fashion industry, changing it from the outside, in. For Lorenzo, his legacy has conveyed how luxury brands should be inclusive and diverse, in order to reflect a changing client base.
Lorenzo stresses in his interview with Complex how his race is additionally a core factor in his work ethic too. His ability to work hard and put in the time and the effort was something he says was instilled in him by his parents at a young age. To be a black American was to work double as hard in a quest to receive the same position as a white American, stating, “I think we all kind of live in the prison of people’s perception of us. And I think it’s up to us to not make their perception of us who we are”.
His tireless work ethic speaks for itself in the precision and detailing of the clothes he creates, he explains in the same interview, “I can’t afford not to be OCD. I can’t afford for my product not to be the best”.
Within this quest, Lorenzo is commanding a position of major influence and ambition within the fashion industry, both by his brand and his legacy.
“My whole purpose in doing what I do is to open up my son’s and my daughter’s minds as to what they can do in this lifetime”.
Fear of God is now accepting pre-orders for the Seventh Collection, with shipping beginning on the 15th of December, 2020. You can visit the website here: https://fearofgod.com/
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