Fear of God: the Black-owned fashion brand with biblical flair

Since launching in 2013 as a capsule of hoodies and T-shirts, founder and designer Jerry Lorenzo created his collection as a means for showcasing Christianity in a cool unorthodox way.

The designer branded his clothing into a movement called The Fear generation, which caught the attention of Bieber in an effort to present a different side of Christian culture. The singer represented his new-found faith back in 2016, by wearing 15 pieces custom made by Fear of God throughout his Purpose Tour.

But is Fear of God a cool brand? It’s definitely on the radar of a lot of celebrities and influencers. Fear of God might be a relatively new brand, but it already counts street style stars and A-listers—including Joan Smalls, Dwayne Wade, Gigi Hadid, Hailey Bieber, Law Roach, and Justin Bieber—as devoted fans.

The Black-owned brand fuses streetwear sensibilities with 90s era grunge, the line embodies essential items in an everyday wardrobe — but with a contemporary spin.  Lorenzo even used David Beckham’s Y2K style as the inspiration for some of his most recent designs.

While the brand originaly started out as strictly menswear, due to it’s success they have since branched out to include womenswear and kid’s sizes as well!

Jerry Lorenzo has also branched out from his luxury concept of Fear of God, to found the subsidiary, ESSENTIALS. It has the same luxury feel and the design, but the prices are a bit more accessible. The collection is timeless – featuring style staples like hoodies, outerwear, and footwear as well.

But Lorenzo is clearly ambitious – he also globally launched Fear of God Athletics on December 3, 2023, completing the trilogy of his brand. It will be collaboration with Adidas and according to Lorenzo it’s a long time coming.

The pieces are functional, modern, and all feature the brand’s distinct design and color palette. The pieces are inspired by Lorenzo’s own love for basketball, athleticwear, and precise tailoring resulting in a look that is futuristic and sleek. In keeping with the foundations of the brand, photos of the campaign definitely had a spiritual and almost biblical undertone. Lorenzo also likens the launch of his three brands to the holy trinity, stating that “there is both unity and diversity in the holy trinity”.  It’s also hard to ignore the trinity imagery within the Adidas logo, which may or may not have been a coincidence.

It seems like the brand is continuing its upward trajectory. Fear of God celebrated it’s first runway show at the Hollywood Bowl in April 2023 with roughly 5000 guests. Seats were filled with A-listers like Tyler the Creator, Tracee Ellis Ross, and even Kanye West. It seems like with each new collection the brand is gaining more and more traction in the fashion world – we’re curious to see what’s next in store for Fear of God!

Original content: Lauren Ciaccia 

Updated content: Rebekah Ortquist