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Celeb News: Kanye West's collection: THE REVIEWS
Member Since: 3/18/2008
Posts: 40,057
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Kanye West's collection: THE REVIEWS
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Telegraph.uk
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.
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NYTIMES.COM
Kanye West Show, Shrouded in Silence, Creates a Scene
By ERIC WILSON
Kanye West, having absorbed enough runway shows over the last five or six years that he has been a ubiquitous presence in the front rows of Fashion Week, finally had his say as a designer tonight with his first show in Paris. It was an event that some people had been anticipating as if it were the second coming of Christian Dior.
Mr. West, the rapper, did not disappoint, if only in terms of creating a scene. At least a half-dozen designers he has befriended were there, including Azzedine Alaïa, Joseph Altuzarra, Alexander Wang, Dean and Dan Caten and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, plus some heavy-hitting editors like Anna Wintour and Glenda Bailey. Everyone sat in a long, sterile white box, lit with purple neon lights, that you would never have known was actually the ornate library of the Lycée Henri IV on the Left Bank.
“I did not want to miss it,” said Linda Fargo, the fashion director of Bergdorf Goodman, who said she met Mr. West years ago when she sat next to him at a runway show in New York. “We had a running commentary throughout the whole show, and he was really into it,” she said. “Everything I was reacting to, he was reacting to.”
Still, she said she had no idea what she was getting into. Mr. West refused interviews prior to the event and his representatives would not confirm what he was working on, even to the stores that might actually buy it. His friends in the audience also seemed perplexed.
Jeremy Scott, another designer, said Mr. West was “so passionate about design that we can have conversations about fashion for five or six hours.”
So what was this all about?
“I really have no idea,” he said.
What Mr. West eventually showed was confusing as well. Though designers in Paris are presenting collections for next spring and summer this week, Mr. West’s collection was heavy on leather, fur and coats, some pieces dripping with so much fox you couldn’t tell if they were stoles or backpacks. The show opened with a hot-club moment, with slinky ridged dresses like those of Pucci and Balmain, with slits and zippers cut around the sides, and a heavy motorcycle jacket that had its sleeves sliced in half. A sparkly cropped jacket had so many bits of flare in it that you could imagine Mr. West sampling fashion like he samples different styles of music. There was one good-looking pair of color-blocked pants in blue and coral, but it was obvious that most of the clothes suffered from a poor fit. (That may be because the fittings were rushed. Chanel Iman said Mr. West called her in New York only the day before and asked her to fly over to walk in the show.)
Afterward, Mr. West was mobbed backstage.
“Turn the music down, at least,” he said as he gathered his thoughts. “I’m so distracted. I was so scared.”
Wearing a white T-shirt and a gold necklace that said “Yeezy,” he described the process of gathering ideas for a collection over seven or eight years.
“I had a lot of ideas about colors and shapes I wanted to express,” he said. “I’m really happy where I ended up.”
He had originally worked with the designer Kim Jones on a streetwear collection, but then met other people in the industry who gave him encouragement to aim higher, like Louise Wilson, the course director at Central Saint Martins (who has since played down her involvement) and the designer Louise Goldin.
“The biggest conversation I had was about the whole idea of a celebrity-designer or a rapper-designer,” he said. “That was the biggest hurdle when you are trying to get people to work with you.”
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Quote:
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.
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More to come. 
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Member Since: 8/15/2010
Posts: 8,808
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Oh dear... looking at those photos it looks a bit basic.
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Member Since: 3/18/2008
Posts: 40,057
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Quote:
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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.
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Kiii 
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Member Since: 7/11/2010
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Member Since: 8/23/2011
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Member Since: 5/18/2011
Posts: 17,136
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Kanye I love you, but why is the third bitch rocking a parachute on her back?
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Member Since: 4/3/2011
Posts: 7,281
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That collection was just pure trash. WTF ?
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Member Since: 10/5/2010
Posts: 778
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Some of the other outfits are much better than the ones in the OP, and it was garenteed the press would drag him.
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Banned
Member Since: 8/16/2011
Posts: 9,414
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Still better than Mugler 
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Member Since: 7/3/2010
Posts: 5,788
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There was always gonna be some harsh criticism due to most just seeing him as a 'just' a celebrity designer, but it's also deserved as there were a lot of kinda whacky outfits and what not.
It's still just his first collection however, I'm sure he welcomes the criticism. Vogue called the show great and he received praised from Carine Rotfiield (who already placed an order in) + Jeremy Scott. I hope he takes it seriously and works harder for his next collection.
The main thing was I was thinking it would be a lot more crazier, like the descriptions made it seem like it would be something you've never seen, but a lot of them were pretty normal imo.
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Member Since: 5/8/2011
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Member Since: 9/23/2009
Posts: 26,796
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Is she sporting a backpack in #3?
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Member Since: 4/2/2011
Posts: 1,374
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Quote:
Originally posted by GotMyBlueprint
Still better than Mugler |
M U G L E R > > >
But still, I rate it 6.8/10. Not bad. 
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Member Since: 7/3/2010
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Quote:
ElleUK.com
KANYE WEST'S DEBUT SHOW..
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By Carrie Gorman | Posted: Sun 02 Oct 2011
Sometimes you can do everything right. Ahead of Kanye West's debut show at Paris fashion week on Saturday night he had spent years of preparation sitting front row at other people's shows, making friends with fashion designers, employing the services of next big things (rumoured to be Louise Goldin, Katie Eary and someone ex-Givenchy), enlisting the help of a hot shot PR company to bring in a crowd of top editors, including Anna Wintour, and make it a thing.
But when the lights on the stage at the beautiful Lycée Henri come up and a countdown to "we have lift off" rings out overhead, all that peels away and what's left is the merit of the clothes.
The expensive model line-up featuring Chanel Iman, Anya Rubik, Karlie Kloss, Abbey Lee Kershaw and Jourdan Dunn couldn't quite make this collection work. Navy leather jackets and snake insert skirts looked too cumbersome for these professionals to pull off. Zips tracked everything, scissoring trousers in to three parts, left too open for comfort up the back of a ribbed LBD and slashing ribbed dresses to within a inch of its existence. Fur was prevalent and unapologetic, used needlessly as a rucksack as if for the sole purpose of showing off wealth. But in Kanye's world, that is rather the point.
There were shades of each of the designers styles who were sat front row. Altuzarra, Alexander Wang, Dean and Dan Caten, Oliver Theyskens, Jeremy Scott, the Olsen twins all had a nod to their aesthetic which created too many themes to give it a single voice.
Were we expecting too much because of the machine behind this launch? Would we scrutinise another newcomer to this degree? Doubtful. And there were interesting ideas to take away: the intricate beadwork on sleeves, the fierce heels, the woven rib tube skirts... It would be a shame if this was the last we saw of Kanye West at fashion week. He has room to grow, knows how to put on a show and of course, the music was excellent.
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Jeremy Scott:
"Everyone probably thought it was going to be another like Jennifer Lopez's Macy's line and it's not, it's really clear it's not," said Scott, who's known for his kooky, colorful designs. "Kanye has impeccable taste and you see his taste level is up there. He's a fan of design across the board. I have five-hour long conversations with him all the time about everything because he's so obsessed, and I think we got a little bit of an insight into his mind there."
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Quote:
Forbes.com
Is Kanye West A Fashion Savant Or A Hanger-On: Kanye West's Debut Fashion Collection In Paris
By: Blue Carreon
Kanye West’s first fashion collection has been met with tepid, if not harsh, reviews. Before he showed his collection in Paris, many wondered if he could pull a Victoria Beckham and present a collection that would become the toast of the fashion world. Judging from the reviews and the Twitter buzz, Kanye’s debut effort is nowhere near Posh’s, but more in the realm of Jennifer Lopez’s clothing line (insert your own interpretation here).
Just what should we make of Kanye West? Does his love for fashion and sitting front row at shows make him a fashion savant or just a hanger-on? You’ve got to love a man who could don Celine women’s silk trousers and make them look like the ultimate act of cool. But what does that make him? Is he just like the many fashion-obsessed youngsters with their crazy outfits hanging outside the shows hoping to get snapped by street style photographers? Or does he have an actual understanding of fashion and design?
As for the clothes he sent down the runway, there were many complaints about the fit, the season-inappropriate choice of fabrics, the pilfering from other designers, and the lack of any new ideas or perspective on fashion. But the celebrities and top editors and fellow designers (does Kanye warrant the label designer now?) were there: the Olsen sisters, Lindsay Lohan, Anna Wintour, Joseph Altuzarra, Alexander Wang, Olivier Theyskens.
His advantage, unlike the fashion-obsessed youth who would kill for a show invite or the starving upstart designers looking for a break, Kanye has the glamour wattage and the pulling power to get A-list people to attend his show, even if they leave their seats perplexed by what just sent down the runway.
My personal take on the collection—they are clothes for Kanye’s tribe, women who have to attend the Grammy Awards in statement making clothes that reveal a lot of skin.
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Quote:
Fashionista.com
Kanye West Spring 2012: Our Review of Kanye’s Debut Collection
By LONG NGUYEN
PARIS–In the car on the way past the Luxembourg gardens towards the Pantheon near where Kanye West held his debut womenswear collection on the fourth floor of the Lycée Henri IV, I thought about all those times that I had gone to the Baby Phat by Kimora Lee Simmons show where clearly entertainment and not fashion was the main attraction. It was the era when bling triumphed over substance. Somehow I was hoping that this would not be the case for Kanye West. In fact, I was ardently hoping this would not be the case. Yet, I know that fashion is a roll of dice and in many cases one does not get double sixes, once or ever.
I remembered back in May 2007 when we shot Mr. West for Flaunt’s September 2007 fashion issue, he told me of his interest in someday doing a fashion line. Over the years, at the shows in Paris and New York, he has been a constant presence, sometimes an unwelcome one. But attending these shows was like being enrolled in fashion school. Seeing how other designers present their collections is like learning on the job. At the very least, one cannot fault his commitment and his enthusiasm for fashion which lead to last night’s show. And he did so with the full support of the fashion crowd–the Olsen sisters, Dean and Dan Caten, Alexander Wang, Joseph Altuzarra and many top magazine editors were there.
“Ready or not, here I am, you can’t hide…” was the vocal blasting on the sound system inside the cocoon-like white rectangular space lit by violet black light as Anja Rubik entered wearing a black heavy quilted leather jacket with a large slit on the sleeve over a leather skirt. Chanel Iman followed wearing a black shirt, leather pants flared at the legs and a large fox stole or shoulder cape and a black leather dress with rectangular frontal cut. If the temperature in Paris has been 20 degrees cooler, all the heavy leather, fox fur and what appeared to be wool cotton felt on a black zippered coat might seem like more of a spring collection. But we tend to forget that it is always fall-winter somewhere else in the world and that Mr. West has a large global fan base.
Of the 23 looks showed, there were a few that I think might work for a certain customer– if the collection is sold in stores–like the white jacket, white slim pants and a knit wrap sweater tied around the waist. I didn’t mind the simple long sleeve camel mini dress with the fox fur backpack either. But the salmon dress with two side zippers up the sides and the nude bandage dress with cut-outs seemed awkward, even on the models. In terms of design, I couldn’t make out the purpose of the side twisted ivory skirt–the volume and the twisting effect that raised one side of the skirt higher than the other make the garment nearly unwearable in real life. No women could sit in that skirt.
In fashion, Mr. West has to remember the refrain of the song he preached to us on the show’s soundtrack–”You can run but you can’t hide.” Now that he has put in a great deal of effort into making this showing a reality, Mr. West needs to consider the reality of the fashion business. At a certain level, I think he can have a niche business, one backed by a limited edition sportswear collection and a few accessory items. There were some hints of that sportswear here. It seemed that he might have rushed to put on this show without working out how to cut and merchandise the collection.
Immediately following the show, with the heat rising and the loud music still blasting away, surrounded by a throng of journalists and greeters backstage, Mr. West could be heard saying that he was really scared about launching this collection. His greatest fear is still about overcoming the stereotype of a celebrity designers or, worse, a rapper-designer, he said. Perhaps this show of hubris and the desire to listen and learn from experience will eventually transform his fashion work into a plausible and sustainable collection. That is, if he wants to stay in fashion for the long haul.
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I'm glad they see the potential.
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Member Since: 8/19/2006
Posts: 6,475
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Quote:
Originally posted by ifyouseekLEM
Is she sporting a backpack in #3?
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IKR???? And it's so big and bulky that it almost looks like she's wearing a ****ing parachute...
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Member Since: 5/17/2010
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The collection didn't seem to have a cohesive theme. There was no story or feeling behind it.
And the entire collection looked like this year's Celine Resort collection.
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Member Since: 5/14/2011
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Does anyone not see the squirrel tail?!?!
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Member Since: 1/8/2011
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Member Since: 11/3/2010
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Quote:
Originally posted by Auraeolus
Does anyone not see the squirrel tail?!?!
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I do know. Well it's his first ever collection so I didn't really expect anything extravagant.
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Member Since: 12/15/2009
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