GERRIT JACOB SS24 ‘THE TRAITOR’

Gerrit Jacob‘s eponymous label wrestles with the tension in class rebellion masquerading as selling out for its Spring/Summer 24 collection titled „The Traitor“. The collection, centred around the perpetual loop of interrogation and agitation, exaggerates the sentimentality of youthful optimism of previous collections, taking the label to its next iteration of maturity.

In a headrush of high contrast, all-or-nothing hues, Gerrit Jacob positions “The Traitor” as a moment between the sunset of your dreams with the humdrum reality of your local backstreet casino chain. His iconoclastic air-brushed motifs applied to new fabrics – denim, jersey and white leather – and distinctive silhouettes realises a core tenet of subversion as traditional luxury craft takes on grittier dimensions.

Inspired by what he calls the “universal language of the working class” – sportswear – and adolescent existentialism/nihilism in the urban sprawl of Gregg Araki’s Doom Generation, Jacob challlenges themes immemorial of loyalty, identity, power and corruption. The idea/insistence that class can be transcended is a twisted lie of fate that Gerrit Jacob’s range of bold aesthetics and brazen prints continue to confront.

As an evolving dialogue between the designer’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.

published by Nadia ten Hove