BY SHELDON
Last Saturday Kanye West debuted with his first womenswear line in Paris fashion week. The show was surrounded with expectation and rumors and became the most hyped show of the season which everyone wanted to see.
With tremendous celebrities like Lindsay Lohan, Carine Roitfeld, the Olsen twins, Terry Richardson and of course Anna Wintour sitting front row, Kanye's first incursion into fashion generated different reviews, most of them bad. I quote NYMag on this one:
"The clothes did not fit. Maybe that's because he supposedly made them in three days with the help of Central St. Martins students in a makeshift atelier in London, which is a whole other set of problems.
In their write-up of the show, The Wall Street Journal referenced Lindsay Lohan's disastrous debut at Emanuel Ungaro. To be fair, Kanye didn't show any glitter pasties in cutesy shapes or cry when he took his bow at the end.
Well, according to the Telegraph: "Kanye West's fashion debut was like being subjected to an hour long MRI scan — but not as much fun."
The collection didn't look like he allowed a real designer to do a bulk of the work for him. Lots of celebrities have real, trained designers designing their clothing lines behind the scenes. In fact, probably anyone who was an actress or singer before their name was on a clothing label does. The result for them is they get a collection that can sell and works as clothing normal people might actually want to wear. In this way, the clothing business isn't fair, since it's much more difficult for designers to flip careers and pretend to be rappers.
The dresses with the deep, deep, deep plunging necklines. I'd guess the average woman with disposable income for high-end designer clothes is about as interested in showing that much skin as they are in being Snooki.
Lindsay Lohan was at the show, wearing a truly unflattering blush-pink look.
The metallic pants. No one can wear metallic pants and look good. Maybe Karlie Kloss and Anja Rubik can. So: no one"
This was meant to happen. We tend to forget Kanye is just another celebrity with no experience in the fashion industry. He has had a couple collaborations with brands like Louis Vuitton and Nike, but that does not make him a designer.
Kanye's intentions were true and he proved so with the speech he gave to everyone who attended his after party at Club Silencio in Paris.
To all of this I have just one question: why not menswear?
Kanye is known for having a great style and sense of fashion. His outfits are always handpicked and he always wears iconic pieces (like the Celine shirt he wore at Coachella). He could've possibly done a better job with menswear because that's what he's familiar with.
Designers feel there's quite less room for innovation in menswear and that is something that needs to change. The fashion industry is beginning to realize men are becoming much more aware with what they put on. The market is about to expand.
I would've loved to see Kanye doing menswear, I would've been so much more enthusiastic about it.