In the recent weeks, a lot of us have seen Kanye West in the media. His fashion choices trend probably every other week. It was just announced that he has a new three-part Netflix documentary coming out in February. Only a week ago, it was reported that he is dating actress Julia Fox. On top of that, his current marital status with Kim Kardashian has been huge news. It seems like he’s been everywhere.
However, this news was an update many did not see coming. This past Friday, it was announced that Ye and Demna Gvasalia, creative director of Balenciaga and fashion designer, will be collaborating on Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga.
What we know
Some people were surprised about the news, but in reality the collaboration may be a match made in heaven. To give some background; Ye has been a fan of Demna since he worked as VETEMENTS’s creative director & co-founder. This is also not the first time that the two have worked together. They created a tribute T-shirt for late rapper DMX and merch for the Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert.
Since the start of the Donda campaign, Demna has been dressing both Kim Kardashian and Kanye in his designs. Ye actually left Demna in charge of overseeing the Donda aesthetic – labeling him as Creative Director of Donda. In addition, he was actually the mystery man with Kim Kardashian at last year’s Met Gala, not Kanye like everyone suspected.
Besides the previous collabs, Demna invited Kanye to his very exclusive Balenciaga Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2021-2022 show last year. So who really knows how long the two have been planning the collaboration? Demna and Ye have very similar dressing styles. Both are very into the apocalyptic, edgy layering looks, which suits for a great match. The coolest aspect of all, is that these two have a great deal of experience in the fashion world.
Some Predictions
You can tell that people are excited for this drop, especially the die hard Yeezy Fans. Yet, one thing that this collaboration offers most is some clarity. This can possibly settle the rumors of Kanye taking the place of the late Virgil Abloh as creative director for Louis Vuitton. Not to say that Kanye isn’t a jack of all trades. But he never fails to surprise us. If he is taking on this role, it wouldn’t be anytime soon.
The other is his strange Balenciaga buying behavior. Allegedly, Kanye has been visiting almost every Balenciaga store and buying one of everything in the store that is Kim Kardashian’s size. It was also speculated that Kanye was buying Balenciaga shoes in bulk and storing them in his LA studios for visitors to pick pairs in their size. Now looking back at these rumors, could this all have been ways he was building hype around the soon to be collaboration? Maybe so.
What the Future Holds
Just based off the fashion choices that we see from both men, it is clear that this will not be a simple collection. Yes, in the past Yeezy Gap’s collection has consisted of simple sweatshirts, futuristic looking puffer jackets, moon boots and more. However, with Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga will we get more of the Balaclava craze and edgy clothing? Possibly new designs that start a completely different trend? No one really knows what direction these two creatives will come up with. There isn’t even a release date for the collaboration.
What we do know? Cardi B and Kanye were just recently spotted filming a music video at a Balenciaga store in Miami. This past September, Cardi was also announced as the new face of Balenciaga. Maybe in the video we might get a sneak peek at the clothes. Whatever direction this collaboration goes; this might be something that shakes up the world of fashion.
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