Jerry Lorenzo Unveils Fear Of God Seventh Collection

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — Since 2018, fashion designer Jerry Lorenzo has been very busy.

The Fear of God founder created the Essentials label under his brand, opened a temporary store in Los Angeles and partnered with Zegna on a collection. He was also hard at work developing the Fear of God Seventh Collection that goes to market today Monday August 17th.

Seventh Collection is an expansion for the brand to categories like knitwear, tailoring and accessories, a further separation from streetwear and an establishment as an American luxury brand. Lorenzo told WWD that he doesn’t consider Seventh Collection to be a departure from what the brand has provided since its launch in 2013, but rather an evolution.

“The direction is always the same,” Lorenzo said. “It’s chasing the space between elegance and comfortability and trying to land the plane in those two words. We’ve just added categories and new vocabulary.”

Seventh Collection retains much of what Fear of God is known for like its made-in-Los Angeles denim — this season sees distressed light wash and three-year wash jeans — and authentic washes on T-shirts and hoodies, but from there, Lorenzo displays the maturation and sophistication of the brand through new categories produced in Italy.

The inception of Essentials and the collaboration with Zegna are significant in the brand’s growth.

“What Essentials does for us is allows us to have the mainline be aspirational. It relieves the pressure of providing certain sku’s,” he said. Essentials was introduced in 2018, offering styles that Lorenzo is known for like T-shirts and hoodies with wider collars. The latest collection launched in July at PacSun and ranges in price from $40 to $200.

“Essentials has done extremely well with loungewear and hoodies that people want to wear on quarantine. [Seventh Collection] will really be our first test at a luxury price point, we’ll start to see what effects if any we’ll feel from COVID-19.”

He added that the Zegna collaboration helped him gain confidence in trying his hand at the new categories. “I think the Zegna collaboration really helped,” he said. “Every time I move into a category there’s always some insecurity. Zegna gave me the confidence I needed and showed me that my point of view can live in anything we touch.”

The collection, which merges luxury tailoring with American sportswear, will hit Zegna stores in September.

For the Seventh Collection, he’s selling the collection on a virtual platform and has done business-to-business videos for retailers.

Despite this, buyers and customers will have the same opportunity to buy the collection. The brand has always done preorders for customers and will do so again for as many as 15 pieces of this collection by the end of the week.

“Our hope is that with this offering, it transcends time and buyers feel more confident,” he said. “The emotion is flashy but when you walk in the room you’re not the loudest in the room. It’s understated confidence.”