THE JOURNAL
According to a 2019 survey, children start developing a sense of style at the age of seven. It’s a stat that many parents might argue misses the mark by some margin given how long it takes to get a three-year-old into a pair of shoes, but for now, let’s go with it. Furthermore, a reported seven out of 10 parents questioned claimed that their children were better dressed than they were. Now, as a reader of MR PORTER, you might be thinking: steady on there. But ask around and you’d struggle to find a mum or dad who at one time or another hasn’t coveted something in their offspring’s wardrobe (in a larger size, obviously).
This inter-generational cross-pollination of clothing provides the framework behind Fear of God Essentials Kids. A pared-back collection in muted tones, and at a more accessible price point, the grown-up Fear of God Essentials line was created as a range of building blocks for a modern wardrobe when it was launched in 2018. From there it doesn’t take much of a jump to suggest that, shrunken down, such items would also come in handy when we’re not long out of playing with building blocks ourselves.
When it landed last year, the children’s Essentials range was, then, a boon for parents. A clutch of genderless staples that were as sharp as they were comfortable, the line brought Fear of God founder Mr Jerry Lorenzo’s magic touch with sweats and hoodies to the play park. The days of wrestling children into ill-fitting togs in garish shades of pink or unimaginative blue hues were over. And yes, you can now head to the supermarket with your very own Mini-Me – or, OK, Ashtray from Euphoria, for a more up-to-date cultural reference – should you buy a matching set.
“I use myself as my own research and development because I’ve been working in retail my whole life,” Lorenzo told us when we spoke with him for our Hosted By series, marking the launch of his exclusive collections for MR PORTER. “I kind of instinctively knew what people were looking for… It was just based on a hole in their closet.” And, as a family man, a hole in his kids’ closets, too. (Not to mention the holes in the knees of their trousers – these sweatpants are thankfully made of sterner stuff.)
Ask Lorenzo if his kids are better dressed than him and he’ll tell you this: in his house, it’s even-stevens.