Is Telfar Trolling Fear of God?
Telfar and Fear of God don't have much in common. Telfar is a fully independent operation indifferent to the fashion industry's whims and a pioneer of direct-to-consumer sales. Fear of God is a luxury label that presents collections to buyers in Paris and sells to the world's biggest retailers. Telfar specializes in approachable all-inclusive daily dress. Fear of God has evolved from grungy streetwear to urbane Italian tailoring.
These labels are worlds apart. So, why is Telfar seemingly referencing Fear of God?
On March 11, Telfar released a four-piece capsule of shirts and sweaters produced in washed-out grey and three shades of beige. Each has a rubberized “Fear of Job” print on its front.
This seems to be a not-so-veiled riff on Fear of God’s ubiquitous Essentials collection, which is so popular that its branded shirts have been spun off into dedicated MLB, NFL, and NBA lines.
The specificity of the fabric's wash and rubberized branding certainly suggests a knowing satire. The intent, however, is vague. Is Telfar intentionally trolling Fear of God? Is the brand suggesting that FoG fans are unemployed? Is this simply wordplay for the love of the game?
Or, could this be a super-subtext-y parody of Fear of God's religiousness? FoG founder Jerry Lorenzo is a devout Christian, after all, the God-fearer at the heart of Fear of God. Perhaps Telfar is implying that instead of Fearing God, we must Fear Job, the Biblical figure who lost everything (and then got it all back) because of God's mysterious whims. Is the obsequious follower scarier than the leader?
Turns out, it's not that deep.
When Highsnobiety reached out to representatives for Telfar and Fear of God for comment, a representative for the latter pointed to an Instagram story posted by Lorenzo around 8pm EST. In it, Lorenzo says that he "talked and laughed" about the design with Telfar Clemens, the founder of Telfar. "We're both independent designers that design with a fear to work for someone else," he said. "Beyond that, the play on what else it could mean to other people is what makes it funny."
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