Jerry Lorenzo on Almost Partnering With a Luxury Fashion House

The Fear of God designer reveals why the deal fell through and how it affected his brand.

In recent years, big-name fashion houses have embraced a younger and much more casual aesthetic. We've seen an ever-growing list of collaborations between high-end labels and notable streetwear brands: There was Champion and Vetements, Nike and Givenchy, Adidas Originals and Alexander Wang, and, of course, Supreme x Louis Vuitton.

Fear of God almost joined that list.

In Complex's November 2018 cover story, Joe La Puma sat down with Fear of God founder Jerry Lorenzo, who dished about the time he almost collaborated with a luxury fashion house. The designer briefly spoke about the offer during a Q&A session earlier this year, but never explained why it ultimately fell through. It turns out, there were a lot of factors.

"I felt like I needed better resources to provide a better product," Lorenzo explained. "I had ideas that were beyond what I thought was my L.A. capacity to make things. And then the insecurity—there’s a little bit of you that thinks that you need to be next to something for validation. I think it was great that those things didn’t happen because it made me look deeper into myself, look deeper into my team. As soon as I took my focus off of partnering up with this house, all the ideas for Sixth just started coming."

Lorenzo declined to name which label Fear of God was supposed to work with; however, he did reveal that it was a brand within a "group." Perhaps a label within the LVMH or Kerig family?

La Puma went on to ask Lorenzo if the label was one that "we all know"' to which, Lorenzo replied: "Of course."

Check out our full cover story with Jerry Lorenzo and John Mayer here.

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