In honor of Mr. West performing at the Bryce Jordan Center this past Thursday, this week’s topic is the fashion icon that is Kanye West. West’s style has come a very long way since he released his debut album ten short years ago. He now serves as a fashion god to both kids and adults around the world and has collaborated with many well established brands such as A.P.C., Nike, and Louis Vuitton. Kanye has come a long way in how he dresses and there has been an evolution to his style which involves many stages.
West’s first attempt to bring the rap industry closer to a look of sophistication involved a phase where he wore a lot of Ralph Lauren. West is known for wearing Polo before it was deemed cool. This involved many Ralph Lauren sweaters and classic solid color or block striped polos.
Although West was attempting to bring rap culture to clothes from more expensive, luxury lines he did not forget his streetwear roots. West was never fearful of throwing a pair of Jordan’s or a brand such as Billionare Boys Club or Bape into an outfit. Still to this day is he sometimes seen in a Supreme piece of some sort along with occasionally rocking a classic pair of sneakers to deviate from his normal Louis Vuitton footwear.
We finally arrive in West’s current obsession with high fashion. West has become very good friends with famous designers such as Ricardo Tisci and Mark Jacobs who actually designed personal clothing items for West’s new born baby. It seems as though his style has become more adult. He is using his clothes to say that he has matured and no longer wants to be recognized as anything less than a mundane thirty-six year old man. For his Yeezus tour Kanye wears the high end fashion brand Margiela from head to toe, topping it off with a customized Margiela mask which he wears throughout his performance.
It is in no question that West’s style has changed since he first struck stardom ten years ago. For better or for worse is one’s own opinion. With his recent shift towards high fashion has come judgement. West’s collaboration with A.P.C. was criticized as being overpriced for the simplistic designs. One of the pieces was a blank white t-shirt being sold for $120. However West says this is the dawn of a new day and he had nothing to do with the price and things like that won’t happen again. With his recent signing to Adidas, West has promised to try and put out items that are both reasonably priced and readily available to the masses. Much unlike his most recent sneaker with Nike (Air Yeezy II Red October) which released last Sunday at 1pm and sold out a short eleven minutes later. Hopefully West’s style continues to evolve as he learns to become a father and we continue to be amazed by his keen fashion sense.
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Nice article. I’m not usually one to discuss fashion at all, but I must admit that I read the entire thing. Intriguing, how Kanye shifted his style when he grew bigger as a performer. It’s really cool to see how his style matured as he did (although personally I think he has the maturity of a 7th grader).
The blog was well written and I think that you provided enough written dialogue as well as pictures to show Kanye’s style effectively.
I love that this is a MEN’S fashion blog as opposed to a women’s one, men need some guidance too. I like the pictures you add to the blog, they help with what you type. The picture of young West and the Teddy Bear is priceless. His fame and his fashion have increased together.
It is kind of amazing how much his style has changed since he became famous. This was really interesting to read. I like the way you used the progression of his style and how you used a person that we have seen evolve. Well see ow his style now changes as he continues to be with Kim Kardashian and his baby. Who even knows what he’ll wear next…
This article was very fascinating. It’s always interesting to look at how celebrities fashion changes over time. As they grow in popularity their fashion seems to change drastically. A perfect example of this is Miley Cyrus. Sometimes I feel that the fame goes to their heads and they try too hard with their fashion, however so far West has taken an appropriate approach and I hope he continuities to be idealized for his fashion sense.
I thought your approach to this blog entry was interesting. I had expected it to be more focused on clothing, but instead you discussed how Kanye’s fashion style reflects his growth. In taking this approach, I thought you could have additionally touched on what makes Kanye a “fashion god”: is it the fact that he wears high-end brands or does he have an exquisite taste that is not found among other music artists?