Everything
In the midst of Paris Fashion Week runways and celebrity appearances across the French city, it was rumoured that Kanye West and wife, Kim Kardashian were in town. Perhaps attending a few presentations? It seemed feasible. However, in recent days it was made apparent of the designer’s plans to revive his fashion powerhouse, YEEZY. It was a late addition to the runway lineup during the week but following a surprise Sunday Service, it was clear he meant business.
Overnight, the designer pulled off a last minute runway show for YEEZY Season 8. His brutalist sensibilities were infused into a cement-like backdrop and a soundtrack of car horns and his daughter, North West, rapping. Models walked the catwalk in West’s usual tonal, beige looks with a slight iteration on his usual silhouettes – high waisted, slim-fit pants in clingy jersey, muslin and tactile wool (produced on his farm in Wyoming) were paired with woollen bralettes while puffer vests and jackets with large hoods rounded out the clothing. One of YEEZY’s biggest sellers, footwear, was on show and included thong heels, puffer slides and hiking boots.
Naturally, the rapper-cum-designer garnered the attention of the industry’s top buyers and editors but the one question everyone had was, why the surprise return to Paris?
As reported by Highsnobiety, he replied, “I stopped doing merch like four months ago and then we started working on the opera because I wasn’t pushing myself enough,” West continues. “We were doing one million dollars a night in merch and I remember when I first started in fashion and we did the first Kanye collections, everyone kept saying “just do a t-shirt, The Row started with a t-shirt” because they had to do this celebrity comparison. And we fought to not do t-shirts, and then I looked up and I was only doing t-shirts. So we stopped and we started focusing on changing, making new shapes.”
West also stepped out in Paris, teasing new Adidas x YEEZY sneakers which should see a drop soon. As for the release of Season 8, we expect a drop later in the year.
Stay tuned and in the meantime, tune into the YEEZY Season 8 runway below.
