With menswear month and its respective fashion weeks over, Berlin-based German designer and illustrator GERRIT JACOB has found the perfect moment to return to the industry’s news and present “The Traitor”, his Spring/Summer 2024 collection in which he confronts the tension of class rebellion masquerading as selling out.
Unveiled yesterday in lookbook format, the line consists of 12 looks, all unisex and inspired by what Jacob calls “the universal language of the working class”, sportswear and teenage existentialism/nihilism in the urban sprawl of Gregg Araki’s Doom Generation.
Teenagers (in general) tend to be very prone to act on impulse and experience quite a few outbursts, but there are moments when, even if you’re past that stage of life, they suddenly come back, no matter how mature you are, and hey, if they come in the form of high-contrast combinations like Gerrit’s, they’re welcome, like that moment between the sunset of one’s dreams and the monotonous reality of the street casino chain, where Gerrit finds inspiration and creates his iconoclastic aerodynamic motifs, welcome they are, like that moment between the dusk of one’s dreams and the drab reality of the street casino chain, where Gerrit finds inspiration and creates his iconoclastic, streamlined motifs and applies them to new fabrics, like denim jersey and white leather. The German’s unmistakable silhouettes do the rest and complete the concept, where the basic principle of subversion is realised as traditional luxury craftsmanship takes on grittier dimensions.
Regrettably, the word luxury sometimes does not fit very well with the meaning of loyalty and is more connected to power and corruption, themes that G.J. questions through this proposal. In this sector, and any other, there have always been social classes, some more open and others more closed, and as far as the latter is concerned, there are numerous requests to be able to be part of it, whether lying or not. This is something that makes the designer particularly nervous, and that sentiment is expressed through his bold aesthetic and cheeky prints.
In the end, as an evolving dialogue between Jacob’s growing community and ambitious vision for the brand, this collection asks only one thing of anyone who chooses to wear it: sell the dream. Check out the GERRIT JACOB Spring/Summer 24 collection below:
