Kanye West Shows Spring 2012 RTW Collection at Paris Fashion Week
Posted on October 5, 2011
Kanye West made his debut as a fashion designer at Paris Fashion Week with a star-studded front row. Anna Wintour, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were just some of the attendees. Lindsay Lohan also sat in the front row. Kanye's spring RTW 2012 collection was called DW by Kanye West, named after his late mother. Chanel Iman said she got the call from Kanye the day before asking her to walk in the show, and she said yes.
At a party after the show, Kanye grabbed a mic and launched into a preemptive diatribe against fashion critics, saying, "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 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 !... I can only grow from this point."
Maybe we've been watching too many episodes of HBO's How to Make it in America, but we thought his comment about the boot cut jeans was really funny. It's true. We really don't need another celebrity denim line.
As for the show itself, there were fit problems with the clothing -- clearly they weren't ready in time to do proper fittings if Chanel flew in just before the show. The color block pants were cute, and there were some cut hoodies and slouchy sweaters. But the shiny pants with giant zippers and the bomber jackets were a major miss, and there didn't seem to be a cohesive vision. His white ensembles had promise, but again there was an execution problem. Don't get us started on all the real fur -- including a giant, furry backpack.
The Cut reports that Anna Della Russo wore Kanye West from head to toe to the Alexander McQueen show. The incredibly low cut black dress looked quite nice on her, we have to say. ITN has a clip from the show: