Kanye West has taken the fashion industry by storm. His first collection, Yeezy Season 1, is about to release in stores around the globe and excitement surrounding the launch is high. He debuted his second collection, Yeezy Season 2, during a surprise fashion show at New York Fashion Week. With the likes of Anna Wintour in attendance, Bella Hadid modeling, and West’s entourage there to show support, the star studded show was promising.
The military themed show and the clothing itself were both very different from what we generally see at fashion shows. The new collection, similar to the first, featured a minimal esthetic with layered looks, distressed fabrics, neutral tones and no true statement pieces.
Lisa and I dropped by to the Yeezy Season 1 launch event yesterday at Antonioli in Milan where the featured photographs where taken. The event was full, with people sporting the latest trends and some already wearing pieces of West’s newly released collection.
For the eager shoppers, West was quoted saying he wants to make his clothing and sneakers accessible to everyone this time around, as his past collaborations with Nike and APC had left little optimism to the general public. But so far that goal has been far from reality. Adidas distributed a meager 12 pairs of his new Yeezy 350 Boost shoe to retailers and the rarity of the sneakers have led resales of the shoe at more than 100% of their original value.
The new collection, Yeezy Season 1, is also far from West’s original goal of accessibility as retail for clothing ranges from around $200 for a T-shirt to a $3000 coat. In a recent interview, West acknowledges the price point is not where he wants it to be, but argues saying that when you’re not Zara or H&M, it’s very hard to make clothing cheap. Designers like Alexander Wang or Oliver Rousteing from Balmain have collaborations with H&M partly to overcome this particular issue up-and-coming designers have been facing.
As West’s fashion ventures continue, and he’s been showing no signs of slowing down, the price point will eventually be where he (and we) would like it to be.
West’s first collection is out now in stores worldwide. Be sure to check it out!
Benjamin Kattan
