The Fashion Editor at Large: Kanye West

Showing posts with label Kanye West. Show all posts

Monday, October 3, 2011

PARIS FASHION WEEK: KANYE'S PLEA

Posted by the Fashion Junior at Large

One of the most hyped events of Paris Fashion Week was Kanye West's debut collection which was shown on Saturday night. There had long been rumours about who the musician might be collaborating with for his first foray into design after a longtime FROW presence. And he dived straight in at the deep-end with a full-on catwalk show at an imposing venue (the grand library of a French lycee opposite the pantheon) on the Saturday night of the Paris schedule. Basically, this was always going to be a BIG DEAL.

Kanye with Chanel Iman and Sky Ferreira (WWD.COM)

For the vast majority of Fashion Editors, the clothes haven't quite lived up to the hype. At The New York Times, Eric Wilson said 'What Mr. West eventually showed was confusing'. Tim Blanks on Style.com wrote that 'what we actually saw was something that looked like a baby Balmain vision of womenswear'. While Lisa Armstong's headline read 'Kanye West's Paris Fashion Week debut was rap with a capital C'. And it wasn't just Fashion Editors having a dig, Malcolm Harris, a designer with connections to the worlds of art, film and music writes an open letter to Kanye begging him to go back to what he does best. All over OUCH.

People were confused by Kanye's use of fur in a Spring/ Summer collection

The models were sent out in clothes which didn't fit

Kanye seems to have pre-empted his critics with the speech he gave at the after-show party. WWD reported his words and we thought we'd post them here in the spirit of true fashion justice.... What do you think?

“Thank you for anybody that didn’t believe, because they motivated us to break our boundaries,” he said.

“We don’t know what the reviews will be, we don’t know what they will say, but I got a chance to go to Italy and feel those fabrics. I begged Louis Vuitton to let me do more shoes after my shoes sold out in two weeks, and they did not. I begged Nike, I begged this company to let me do it. And I took out motherf---ing loans to get the best models, to get the best designers, to get the best venue. I gave you everything that I had.

“This is my first collection. Please be easy. Please give me a chance to grow. This is not some celebrity s---. I don’t f--- with celebrities. I f--- with the creatives in this room, the amazing people who spend every day of their life trying to make the world a more beautiful place.

“The amount of people that tried to get me a celebrity f---ing deal. They said, ‘You need to do boot-cut jeans, or you won’t sell.’ Shut the f--- up ! Or Hedi Slimane in the motherf---ing Mercer, sitting with me, saying, ‘Stop giving them your ideas, Kanye. Do your own thing.’ Hedi Slimane! To feel so frustrated. And I thank anybody who came to this party, everybody who supported, everybody who believed, because people thought it was a joke, and maybe people still do, but I can only grow from this point”

After ranting this, he asked the DJ to play "Try A Little Tenderness" by Otis Redding. Bless his cotton socks.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

ALL OF THE LIGHTS

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

From exactly one minute in, this is the best graphic visual music video I have ever seen. (Though don't fast forward or you miss Elton playing!) Directed by Hype Williams, the video is inspired by the opening and closing sequences of the French movie Enter the Void, which was released early last year. Critics accuse Kanye and Hype of a total rip-off, and while it is very close to the original, their version is an improvement in my eyes. They say creativity is all about hiding your sources, well Kanye and Hype didn't burrow into the distant past, so what do they expect? Anyway, it's of no matter. This is a thing of beauty. Rihanna is sublime.

For me, watching this on a loop is the perfect palate refresher between London and Milan fashion week. Simply cannot stop watching/listening. Kanye, Elton, Rihanna, even La Roux is in there somewhere. Enjoy.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

PRADA UPDATE!!!! GOLDEN GLOBE GEEKS BRING ME GLEE AT MILAN MENS AW10

Posted by The Fashion Editor at Large

Thankyou to FOX TV, E4, and Golden Globe award winning GLEE who have provided the highlight of my weekend, a meditation on the triumph of Geeks in contemporary society and this hilariously brilliant cover of Kanye West's Gold Digger by the cast of Glee.

A small aside, but an important one. In today's popular culture being an outsider is celebrated. Not like when I was a teenager in the late eighties when being an outsider was a pretty lonely place. (No Internet just yet to connect with like-minded weirdo's and feel relatively normal). We have come a long way since then, and that makes me pretty glad for todays teenagers. Today Geeks rule the world (and they deserve the capital letter!). Look at Bill Gates (Microsoft), Larry Page or Sergey Brin (cofounders, Google) then look at every cool boy around. Does he wear geeky specs and dress a "bit nerdy"? Yes? Of course he does - this is the most stylish look for men now because Geeks rule the world. Even the male lead of Avatar is an outsider because he is disabled. Not your average hero. A quick glance at the menswear shows taking place now in Milan and the fashion editors attending, demonstrate Geek power.

Yesterday I tuned in to watch my two Sky plussed episodes of Glee (which last night - Sunday 17th January - won a Golden Globe for best TV comedy/musical), the new American import about the geeks, outsiders, physcially impaired and outside-the-box thinkers at a high school who join what seems to be a US stalwart - the Glee Club. I think a Glee Club is a singing and dancing group that enters competitions to beat all the other local High Schools (excuse my ignorance on the matter, and correct me if I am wrong.)

I haven't had so much fun and laughed so much watching a TV show for a long time. I have now watched the first two episodes twice over, reserving particular unbridled pleasure in the Kanye Gold Digger cover above, which has had up to five viewings as of right now. I can't wait for tomorrow night (Monday 18th January) for the next episode.

PS. Watched episode THREE last night (18th Jan) and it was sooo good all three of us watching shouted "NO!" when it finished.

girls in prada aw10 pre-collection...has Mrs Prada been watching Glee too?