Jerry Lorenzo for Fear of God is our 2023 Fashion Innovator! Lorenro did not have formal fashion training when he launched Fear of God a decade ago. Now it has has bumped Supreme off some bestseller lists. “American luxury to me is the freedom to be the best version of yourself,” he says. Style, he adds, “is not just clam chowder from Boston. It’s a gumbo pot of all these different cultures and experiences and points of view that represent visually what America is today.” The label doesn’t have any brick-and-mortar stores and does very little advertising. He chooses not to stage fashion shows on the industry’s traditional calendar, instead releasing collections when he feels they are ready. “I would rather only speak when I have something to say,” he notes. As a designer who learned how to make clothes not in a classroom but through visiting factories and sampling (and resampling and resampling) his ideas, Lorenzo treats the humble hoodie or denim with as much care as ultra-luxe Italian labels like Canali treat their suits. His cashmere overcoats, jersey hoodies and Tesla Cybertruck–looking slides sit easily on the body—the sartorial equivalent of settling into a low-slung Eero Saarinen Womb Chair. He envisions customers wearing $95 Essentials sweatpants underneath, say, a tidy $1,695 lapelless blazer from Fear of God’s high-end main line.
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