Project Runway Mentor Tim Gunn minced no words when he called Kanye West’s Yeezy fashion line a “hoax” following its fourth season at New York Fashion Week.
“I’m totally perplexed about why the fashion industry has not looked at these frankly dumb, basic clothes and cried, ‘hoax,’” Gunn said in an interview with Access Hollywood Live. “Kanye West is a sphinx without a riddle. I just don’t understand why people are so in awe. [The models in Season 4] are basically wearing stretch undergarments.”
Typically off-put by Gunn’s brutal passes, even I am inclined to agree this time. West’s line is a little more than glorified underwear. I’m all
for the naturalistic, minimalist look, but in what context would anyone even require flesh- toned bodysuits? And why would any fashion-enthusiast worth his or her weight pay exorbitant prices for “basic” clothes?
West seemed all too prepared for the backlash his line has received.
“I wouldn’t say that anyone in fashion is on my side,” he said in an interview with W Magazine just before Season 4’s release. “I don’t think there’s anyone on my side. I’m saying that to this date they do not understand who I am. They will not understand until after I’m gone. I am misunderstood, and there is no one in fashion that’s on my side.”
As if that weren’t deluded enough, West went on in the same interview to compare himself to characters in “Wreck- It Ralph,” “Despicable Me”
and “Elf,” as well as a High Renaissance painter.
“It’s like if the Michelangelo was working the church, and he was really good at drawing cherubs, and he said, ‘I want to draw a saint, and I want to draw, like, a mature angel,’” West said. “And they were like, ‘No, Michelangelo. First, we’re going to say for the first eight years that we don’t even believe that you could use your artistic skill set and capacity to create outside of the form of a baby cherub angel, Michelangelo.’”
This is a ridiculous comparison for someone aiming to be minimalist. West’s line is a slap in the face of any high-fashion consumer, and it’s an even bigger affront to the common fashion-enthusiast. They aren’t misunderstanding West’s vision. Rather, they’re understanding it a little too well.
It’s the same ploy he uses in all other aspects of his life – that disgustingly wretched self- victimization meant to inspire pity. The facade is tiresome, yes, but in the cutthroat world of fashion, it’s downright ridiculous.
Unfortunately, ridiculousness has been synonymous with West’s name for some time.
If even he can’t visualize a world in which his designs are popular, how can he possibly expect anyone else to?
