Whether you recognize him from Freeform’s new Grown-ish or the oversized coat meme from this past winter, Luka Sabbat has been heralded as “the coolest kid on the internet” since he was 18 years old.
That was back when the native New Yorker began his modeling career by walking at Yeezy’s Season 1 presentation at New York Fashion Week in 2015. Now the digital sensation has stretched his career out far past just modeling. As a self-titled “creative entrepreneur,” Sabbat has ambitions across many different lines which can be seen in his project HOTMESS, created with Noah Dillon. The collaboration not only involves photographs, but clothing, furniture, and anything else that the two want to artistically explore. With a fluidity through his interests, absurd style, fashion takes, and interest in his individuality, Sabbat is capturing something quintessentially GenZ.
GenZ has recently seized the fashion market as they’ve began taking up more and more consumer space. As someone at the forefront of the latest generation to come to age, Sabbat told Nordstrom’s blog that while there’s great content in the world, “I don’t feel like a lot of it was for my age group, or my scene. There needs to be more.” Rather than the old, traditional things we’ve all seen before, this new movement is focused on the fast-paced demand from something new and extreme. Since Sabbat determines his next process by Googling different combinations of key words to make sure his ideas are original, it is no doubt he shares this mindset.
Take one look at his Instagram and you’ll be met with a mix of high and low-fashion; Balenciaga mixed with some thrift shop find to create a style that wouldn’t look good on anyone else. There is an aura of authenticity and individuality in each of his outfits that makes it impossible to copy because it embodies him—as said to Miss Vogue: “I just do what I like, and I don’t really pay attention to what is being said.” Thi
s ethos can be seen throughout GenZ’s fashion interest. They want to look like no one else, to fight the expectations and ‘limits’ of traditional fashion. Rules like not being able to mix patterns or layer denim are things of the past. Wearing what speaks to you fills the GenZ fashion ethos.
Beyond being an image of the growing digital native, Sabbat has inspiration out side of himself. Above all else, he told Hypebeast,
“I dress like I’m in a video game” and cited Dudley from Street Fighter as his biggest fashion icon. As subcultures fade away with the digital, the multimedia approach Sabbat—and many GenZers—takes to style is unsurprising. Kids no longer only have their favorite bands or TV shows to look up to but Instagram stars, YouTubers, video game characters, etc. Above all, however, in this new, fast-paced world, to be exciting and excited reigns supreme.
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Luka Sabbat is GenZ Fashion; Image credits: @lukasabbat on Instagram; @grownish on Twitter
