I'm talking about Kanye West's Yeezy Season BORE 4 collection...
Now i'm not going to go into his messy, controversial 'multi-racial women only' casting call or even the show itself, which was clearly a shambles and has already been dragged all over the internet. No, i'm actually just interested in shading the clothes.
For the most part I have actively tried to ignore Kanye these last few years. His narcissistic rants and the delusional soundbites they've produced 'I AM SHAKESPEARE IN THE FLESH' have left me cold to the man and the overrated music. Someone who once spoke out so passionately about the plight of Black Americans now seems completely out of touch, only motivated by grandiose visions of achieving the same level of success and respect in the fashion world as he has done in his seemingly unstoppable music career. When it comes to Kanye the designer, although i've seen the occasional pictures from his previous fashion shows pop up on my Tumblr dashboard, I was usually far more taken with the strikingly beautiful models and the gorgeous hair sported by some of them, than by Kanye's sartorial offerings. But this time round I had Tidal (still haven't unsubscribed, welp) and they were live streaming Yeezy Season 4, supposedly from 7pm GMT. I was curious to see how many Black women had ended up being booked for the show and had nothing else to do so decided i'd give it a watch...
What feels like 18 hours later, the show actually began. What I assumed at the time was an elaborate performance piece re: models sitting down and having to drink water as well as tripping down the catwalk, turned out to be genuine production blunders caused by heat exposure and tiny, faulty, foot crippling and hideous shoes. Even with all this drama going on I found myself bored, waiting for inspiration. It never came cos that collection was drier than Riveta!
If I was trying to describe the collection to someone lucky enough to have avoided seeing any of it i'd say 'bootleg American Apparel meets Home Alone meets 1990s Manchester' because it was a borefest of Winter body con and parkas. Don't know where the hideous boots fit in, i'll have to have a think about that...
If I was trying to describe the collection to someone lucky enough to have avoided seeing any of it i'd say 'bootleg American Apparel meets Home Alone meets 1990s Manchester' because it was a borefest of Winter body con and parkas. Don't know where the hideous boots fit in, i'll have to have a think about that...
Wtf is this?
The only mildly redeeming looks i can remember were these 2...
... And the second one was mainly just because the model looked so good!
I really would love to meet Kanye while he's surrounded by the 'YES' crowd who must surely be present every time he expresses an idea because I feel like a world where anyone who thinks this collection is good should be an alternate one... Far far away from me. The resources and connections that must be available to you when you possess Kanye levels of star power and wealth are unfathomable to me... And yet this is his offering?! These are the fruits of his boundless creative genius and team?! Where is the innovation?! Where is the DESIGN?!? Imagine what emerging designers with actual talent could create if they had Kanye's resources! A quick google of his previous collections showed me that this is pretty much just more of the same and there has been no real conceptual evolution... In fact Yeezy Season 3 was marginally more interesting.
Love seeing melanin on the catwalk and it was nice to see two of my faves, Grace Bol and Chanel Iman, walk in the show, but model choices aside, I really wish people would stop drinking the Kanye Fashion Kool Aid... But I guess until his fans are ready to stop paying £70 for Kanye Gildan t-shirts that's never going to happen!
I will be passing on Yeezy Season 5.
Drag over xx
(Title = lyrics to 'Runaway' by Kanye West)
