Kanye West S/S 2012 Paris

[Spike413]

Especially if that new talent were white Or at least, people wouldn't even think of the word "ghetto"

That aside, I think this is a solid collection. Obviously, one cannot match Ackermann or Demeulemeester on their first collection, it's just not going to happen, but this shows some promise. It's one of the better collections of fashion month.

No offense but I think that's a pretty weak defense. If a new designer cannot hold their own against such respected peers he or she doesn't belong positioning him/herself amongst them so hastily. By showing at Paris fashion week of all fashion weeks, he left himself wide open for comparison to everything else shown in that city, and since there's a certain level of craft and creativity expected of any designer showing in Paris one had better do their best to measure up. If they can't then they shouldn't be so arrogant as to assert that they do, in fact, measure up before they've proven that they can.

 

[kiddokiddo]

I second that

I don't think it's a matter of being black or white. Remember Zac Posen and his disastrous attempt of showing in Paris Fashion Week (not even his first collection).

 

[educo]

i understand what you're saying completely- but if people want to go off that one argument- NOTHING in fashion is completely original. even john galliano was referencing his work to dior archives throughout his reign at CD- i don't think formichetti's stuff is original. there are so many labels who borrow things from one another. it's all about perception in my mind- what these designers are inspired by is what makes things interesting- i knew where kanye would direct his taste level toward, but he still put his own twist on it; which i admire. your points are valid & it's still season one- im just wondering how much time will be devoted & how much progression we'll see. im not sure that kanye understands the monster that fashion has become upon being much more globalized. we shall see though.

agree about the fur look on anais too! i also loved the salmon/pinkish dress on jourdan.

Oh enough with the "nothing in fashion is original" justification. There is being inspired like Galliano and translating it to another language and Kanye, fishing his closet and his stylist's closet and just switching colors and fabrics. NOT THE SAME. I don't care how hot your personal style is, it doesn't qualify you to design for others, especially women. It's like this collection is what he likes on women instead of what women want. I'm more intrigued by him throwing out a men's line. And if this is what putting his own "twist" on it looks like, then his "twist" has no taste and he's better off "twisting" his *** to WATCHING THE THRONE with Jay Z.

 

[educo]

It probably goes without saying that Kanye doesn't have much experience with harsh reviews of his work, so this may turn out to be quite the reality check for him. I can't say I have much sympathy though, because he brought whatever criticism this collection has and will garner upon himself by not only having the arrogance to think he could head a high fashion label without any experience, but to then debut it smack dab in the middle of Paris fashion week amongst a slew of the industry's most respected names. Bottom line, the clothes are really kind of awful, and I hold those supposedly brilliant CSM grads responsible as well for that end of things.

And I'm sorry, but I don't really buy the racism thing in this particular instance. The game is completely changed when it's a celebrity, because people are more likely to see "Kanye West" than they are to just see "black man". If you already dislike him as a person or as an artist it kind of stands to reason that you're not going to have anything nice to say about anything he does. You don't need to be racist to hate him or his work, especially if it truly does suck.

THANK YOU! I'm a brown skinned Latina and I absolutely HATE when peeps throw the race card as an excuse for less than stellar reviews. His collection, blatantly showed his absolute lack of experience on any side of the industry that doesn't involve shopping. Ok, so Louise Golden and Riccardo designed the collection, fine. But kanye decided to put his name on it and that should speak for some kind of experience or voice of reason/control, whatever. But it DOES NOT as we can see here in the light of day. LMAO, so much for the "Louis Vuitton Don".

And WHY does every celeb designer knock off Herve Leger!!?

 

[VersaceVixen009]

Thought it would be MUCH worse. Not going to lie, the shoes are decent looking.

 

[FelipeV]

How much do i need to pay to show in paris? Aparently there's no any filter to show something in there, right? Anyone can do it.

And seriously that "he can do whatever he wants" attitude, is so overrated.

 

[ErnstLudwig]

I was hoping for something over the top tacky but it's actually pretty tame and boring.

I DEMAND A T-SHIRT COLLECTION FEATURING HIS QUOTES OF INSANITY IN CAPS LOCKED

 

[nightclubbing]

^^ I think they were mainly saying when a POC does something it's automatically labeled as "ghetto" whereas someone else that isn't will do the exact same thing and it'll just be called "tacky"

 

[Style Savvy]

Ofcourse the majority hates it, tFS is full of anti pop culture hipsters
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[Deleted member 7575]

surprisingly not surprised

 

[deflyricist2006]

It isn't as bad as we are all making it out to be (never forget that Mugler, and Viktor & Rolf S/S 12). I see all the referenced designers (and unimpressed with that a bit). The looks are a bit quiet though, tones are neutral and play with the basics needed in the wardrobe. Anna Wintor left early though, so IDK what that will entail. Solid effort though, no? and Cathy Horyn is right about the tailor moment, because some of the girls were swimming, and almost had a LiLo moment (ahem, Eniko, and Jourdan specifically). If the collection is dissected by a buyer's standpoint, there are not as many memorable pieces, such as the sheer blouses, and the ankle zipped overlong pants, but there are some good pieces that will be sold, such as the Izabel Goulart outfit.

 

[balmain1914]

FLOP. Both Wang And West.

 

[Psylocke]

After looking through it again I must say it really isn't that bad. The fit of the clothes is horrid but if you imagine other fabrics being used for most of the looks then it would actually be a pretty decent collection, IMO. Some of the cuts are quite interesting and the necklines and the placement of the zippers are sort of cool.



And btw, for everyone else losing sleep over this, the DW in the collection's name stands for Donda West, his late mother.

 

[Thefrenchy]

I can't believe some people are defending this mess Is it as bad as I thought it would be? No. But the guy is definitely not a designer. As someone on Twitter said: "Loving fashion doesn't make you a designer". The collection as a whole is a tacky mess. There's no clear vision and it needs some serious editing.

At the end of the day, my biggest issue with this is that the guy is so ****ing pretentious. Who does he think he is? What made him think he had the credibility for that? See, being able to afford expensive fabrics, collaborating with designers, hiring a cast composed of the best models in the business and having some of Fashion's most important people sitting front row will never make one a designer. Leave it to those who are creative.
While watching this I was thinking about all those fashion students who would be dying to have the opportunity to show their collections in the same configuration. Financially supporting young designers would have been a nicer gesture and would have showed how much he loves fashion and cares for its future. That would have made me respect him way more than I do today.

 

[Squizree]

Nothing about Kanye West has ever indicated that he might have an ounce of creativity fit for a fashion label at Paris Fashion Week. I can't even take this seriously. The clothes look barely wearable. They're poorly formed and constructed. To defend this is to throw any credibility out the window. I know it sounds mean but I kinda hope he gets ripped to shreds.

 

[Flashbang]

The last part.. Huge ouch

Stick to the day job, Kanye
Kanye West's Paris Fashion Week debut was rap with a capital-C.
BY Lisa Armstrong | 02 October 2011

It was certainly a grand venue, a ravishing neo-classical Lycée opposite the Parthenon on one of Paris's most imposing cobbled squares. Inside the Lycee's library, the book-lined walls were concealed behind temporary white screens and the room frazzled with infra red light. Kanye West's fashion debut was like being subjected to an hour long MRI scan - but not as much fun. Those blanked-out books turned out to be a depressingly apt metaphor for this entire stupendously vacuous enterprise. Even those actresses turned designers, Lindsay Lohan and the Olsen sisters struggled to look engaged.

There has been much breathless speculation in the media in the past few days about who was really designing Kanye West's collection. He was spotted shopping for fabric and zips in London, and he was rumoured to be consulting Louise Wilson, head of St Martin's fashion course (an allegation she furiously denied). In the end rumours settled on young British designer Louise Goldin as a possible collaborator, along with a stylist from Australian Harper's .

Really, though: who cares? If this is the way fashion's going then anyone with any real talent should seriously consider a career in Tesco instead. Because that's a job with dignity. Unlike ghost-designing for a rapper who has the presumption to show "his" very first collection in Paris during prêt-à-porter - supposedly the summit for true creativity in fashion. It was the equivalent of Karl Lagerfeld launching a hip-hop career: i.e. absurd.

To be fair, what West and his ghosts sent out looked well enough made, and all that video-set experience means he knows how to make a model look sexy - no death-head make-up for him. Backstage, he was even tweaking the clothes before the models walked. But Oh dear God, those clothes: does the world really need another slashed bandage dress that requires a woman to go commando and depilate every last centimetre of her body or for that matter another pair of Balmain-esque spray-on shiny jeans? Not sure those fur rucksacks are a major - or even minor - contribution to civilisation either. Why so much fur in a spring collection?

We could endlessly debate the merits of hooker dressing - it comes down to taste in the end. But we can certainly take issue with clothes so tight they reduce a woman's walk to a hobble. Not big, not clever, and not welcome. Afterwards, we asked an Olsen if she'd liked it. "Yes!", she trilled. Any particular look? "Ummm....". Exactly.

-telegraph.co.uk

 

[Teja]

THIS.

To me it just seems like Mr. West has taken a few memorable impressions from his time sitting in the front rows of Paris and fruitlessly tried to replicate them.

However, I do like the opening look.

 

[Teja]

Another review, style.com:

PARIS, October 1, 2011

By Tim Blanks

Kanye West said he found taking a bow at the end of his first fashion show in front of a few hundred industry professionals much more daunting than encoring in front of thousands, as he usually does. No surprise there. West's genius as a groundbreaking musician is unquestionable, whereas his status in the fashion world has been, until now, that of an ardent-bordering-on-obsessive fan. Which was clear from his genuine delight when Silvia Venturini Fendi and her daughter Delfina Delettrez Fendi came backstage to congratulate him after the show.

They were two of a surprising number of designers who turned out for Kanye: The presence of Azzedine Alaïa, Dean and Dan Caten, Olivier Theyskens, Jeremy Scott, and the Olsens sealed this evening's deal as a fashion event. Equally, they underscored the goodwill he had going into this. And Kanye himself was poignantly aware of the challenge. "The biggest hurdle I had to face is the celebrity designer or the hip-hop designer concept," he said backstage. But he had some major help in battling preconceptions. Among the people he bounced ideas off, he name-checked Kim Jones, Louise Goldin, Katie Eary, and Louise Wilson, the guiding light of Central Saint Martins and, by extension, guru of British fashion.

Maybe that's why what Kanye actually offered on the catwalk was such a surprise. He was keen to communicate that, as far as he was concerned, there was a couture level of workmanship in items that had taken three days to complete in the atelier he'd established in London. What we actually saw was something that looked like a baby Balmain vision of womenswear. The context was impeccable—soundtrack and staging exactly what you'd expect from someone whose 360-degree vision has been responsible for some of the best albums and concerts of the past decade. The clothes? Heavy might be the operative word: zippers in excelsis; suede and leather high-performance clothing; beading, crystals, and appliqué weighting jackets and tops. And more fur than you'd want on a night when the mercury hit the roof in Paris. It's kind of a cheap shot to go the trying-too-hard route with someone who is so undoubtedly passionate about what he is doing, but at the same time, it's frustrating that someone who seems to almost effortlessly realize his vaulting musical ambitions comes up short elsewhere, at least on the first attempt. Of course, what Kanye West is trying to achieve is unprecedented. There isn't a fashion designer alive who could match his music. But tonight's show suggests that conquering his new medium is a work in progress.

 

[Squizree]

^ Even Tim Blanks couldn't help but slip in a few thorny comments there.

 

[Northern Star]

I know there are a few days left, but this IMO has been the worst Fashion Weeks I have ever witnessed. So, this isn't good, but I have seen worse just a day or two ago. I think the best way to judge this, is to forget KW is involved. So, I wonder if any of the models even turned up to fittings, because lots of it is so ill-fitting, it's unbelievable. Not flattering even on model bodies, so heaven knows what it will look like on regular women. No fan of the fur involved either.
Nice try, massive failure.