Fashion Week has not been kind to Kanye West. His first collection shown in Paris in 2011 was disastrous at best and editors had no problem letting him know exactly what they thought of his efforts. Style director of Flaunt magazine, Long Nguyen, lamented that there “wasn’t anything to grab on to. But you can’t just dump some fox fur on a runway and call it luxury.” Anna Wintour even told the New York Times to “ask someone else.” Yikes. But rumor has it that Kanye is returning to the scene of the crime and will be presenting his Adidas collaboration during New York Fashion Week on February 12.
The rapper and sneaker company have been collaborating on a collection since 2013 when their partnership was officially announced, but the release date has been changed so many times fans were starting to doubt it would ever see the light of day. But then Adidas released Confirmed, an app made specifically to allow shoppers to reserve Kanye-styled kicks in their area. Interest picked back up and soon rumors were swirling that invitations to the preview had already been mailed out. Yesterday an email invite screenshot was posted to Instagram (and has since been deleted) offering proof of the show. As of publication time “sources” at Complex have confirmed it will indeed be taking place next week.
Footwear might seem like a small step back into the limelight of Fashion Week for Kanye, especially considering his first attempts were full-fledged ready-to-wear collections, but this time around he has a little more experience under his belt. He’s sat on quite a few front rows as of late, collaborated with A.P.C., landed a Vogue cover with his wife and starred in Balmain’s menswear campaign. With all those connections to the industry he’s likely to have picked up a trick or two, no?
