Meet The L.A.-Based Designer Who Inspires Cult-Like Devotion From Celebrities And Real Guys Alike

“I think the magic is that everything I do is very familiar,” says Jerry Lorenzo over the phone from somewhere in Calabasas. He’s stopped on the side of the road for better reception, and attempting to explain what it is about his L.A.-based label Fear of God that inspires such cult-like levels of devotion from fans. “It’s a flannel, it’s a bomber—it’s your uncle’s army field jacket that he used to wear all the time. It’s all these things that are familiar to you.”

Of course, that’s not all there is to it—because what he’s actually doing is taking those well-worn classics and reworking them in his own image, starting with a heavy dose of L.A. effortlessness and then channeling ’80s and ’90s influences like Kurt Cobain and The Breakfast Club through a modern, hip-hop-inspired lens. “A lot of what I try to do is find the line between Allen Iverson and John Bender,” he explains. “This new culture that’s meshed hip-hop with grunge and all these different types of music and influences—when you mix it all up, what’s the highest-elevated form of what that is?” Read more at Esquire.