_{Photo Credit: Donda Album Art by Kanye West}

Motionless, emotive, and still: Kanye West played snippets of his long-awaited tenth studio album, DONDA, to 42,000 fans in Atlanta – releasing on the 6th August. Dressed in a sheer, beige ski mask (recently a signature of West’s style) and a red, monochromatic YEEZY Gap round jacket and vinyl pants, West participated in what can only be compared to performance art. He did not address the crowd or interact directly with the music – he stood still or dropped to his knees or solemnly paced. Though impending divorce, Kanye’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian attended in support, matching the rapper in an all-red Rick Owen’s jumpsuit.

The DONDA-era aesthetic seems to return to 2016/2017 Kanye: oversized puffy jackets, with baggy jeans, and layered hoodies. While Kanye’s streetwear includes bold colours, the DONDA merch (exclusively available at the listening party but available on reselling sites) is earth-toned and a classic long-sleeved shirt, the typical silhouette of Kanye’s album merch. In the centre is the Mercedes-Benz logo (the namesake of the Atlanta stadium) and on the back is a childhood image of West’s late mother whom the album is named after. 

Kanye consistently integrates art, fashion, and music. His creativity is recognised in extending from music to designing for YEEZY and collaborating with renowned contemporary artists.

DONDA is no different to Kanye’s history of artistic influence: a reconstructed Louise Bourgeois drawing adorns the most recent cover. Bourgeois repeatedly considered the mother’s role and famously created Maman (1999), which she explained to Tate as ‘an ode to my mother’. Kanye and Bourgeois both had close relationships with their mothers which impacted their future creations, from Kanye’s ‘Hey Mama’ on Late Registration to Bourgeois’ six subsequent sculptures of the large-scale spider.

From Kanye’s early albums, his artwork adopts a biographical approach. The College Dropout, Late Registration, and Graduation followthe symbolic ‘Dropout Bear’: Kanye’s mascot which shares his decision to drop out of college to pursue music. 

Blending contemporary art, recognisable merchandise, and musical production is an aspect of Kanye’s album release process. Kaws’ cover for 808s & Heartbreak snaps a deflated balloon heart, pulling it apart by cartoonish, white, gloved hands. George Condo for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy merged aggression, shock, and creativity for a series of nine interchangeable covers. In a desert red, long-sleeve shirt reading in an Old English font, ‘I feel like Pablo’, Kanye first played The Life of Pablo at Madison Square Garden. The iconic emblem came to not only be associated with an album, but also with a moment significant to his fanbase. He incorporates his merchandise to become part of the album’s era, as a counterpart to the music.

Kanye West is one of the least predictable people currently in the celebrity eye. His album art constantly changes in anticipation of album releases, but once released, it maintains coherence with the music. For DONDA, we can expect Kanye’s consistent meticulousness in creating an album with an encompassing aesthetic from production to artwork, to clothing

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Words by Caitlin Sahin

The post Kanye West and His Relationship with Art: From The College Dropout to Donda appeared first on Voir Fashion.

‘We miss the old Kanye.’ In celebration of his debut album’s recent sixteenth birthday, it’s only right to look back on the impact Kanye West has had on the fashion world.

Amongst his antics and instrumentals; Kanye’s passion for fashion is a crucial element of himself that has influenced pop culture since the release of his debut album, The College Dropout. While his style is unmatched, he also seems to be constantly at odds with it, whether he’s been setting trends within current styles or becoming a well-respected designer in his own right.

‘We even had the pink rugby and thought we was Kanye’: The self-proclaimed ‘Louis Vuitton Don’ completely shattered the parameters of Hip-Hop style. It was obvious that ‘Ye was a new and peculiar version of rap that was emerging when he entered the mainstream in the early 2000s. Rocking pink rugby polos, Louie V backpacks; while the average rapper was still wearing XXX tees, bootcut jeans and staying iced out from head to toe. Yeezy wasn’t with conformity. While embracing bourgeois-styled behaviour, he broke stereotypes of a rapper’s sense of style.

‘See he invented Kanye ,it wasn’t any Kanyes.’ At first, Roc-A-Fella records weren’t convinced on giving Kanye a deal, and who could blame them? West’s obsession with preppy polo shirts and backpacks was definitely unconventional. Although Dame Dash and Jay Z came around eventually, Kanye admitted it was difficult to convince the two moguls: “No one would give me a deal,” The Chi-Town native explained, “Maybe it’s because of what I had on… I guess they judged a book by its cover.” But if we know anything about Kanye, it’s his unwillingness to relinquish his creative freedom.

Kanye continued to bridge the gap between Hip-Hop and fashion, he blurred the lines among the high-end fashion cosmos while meshing rap within that. Of course, he wasn’t the first rapper that rocked designer brands, but he was one of the few that had a rapport with these fashion brand ambassadors. Being the first non-athlete to be given a shoe deal; added to the relationships with fashion designers such as Olivier Theyskens, Jeremy Scott, and Azzedine Alaïa to name a few; was only propelling him to a place further than music could ever take him. However, when it comes to Kanye inspiring fellow rebellious and experimental artists, a melting pot of musicians come to mind. Whether it’s older creatives like Pharrell, T Pain and Kid Cudi or newer ones such as Drake, J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar — the influence is evident. It might not be a direct correlation between Kanye and the newer age artists, but I guarantee that their favourite artist’s favourite artist is Mr West himself.

And now in 2020, while Kanye’s style has provided more gusto than the average man, it seems like he’s embracing the dad-esque look more and more; quite fitting for his role these days. ‘Ye has smoothly integrated this new part of his life within his appearance: With a casual, plain pair of black sweatpants (usually tucked into his Yeezy limited socks), along with his matching t-shirt, underneath a puffer; and to top it off (literally) — a Kanye fit these days isn’t complete without an appearance from one of his dad hats.

While you could argue most of what he does causes controversy, who is Kanye without controversy, and controversy without Kanye? Yeezus continues to move the needle and polarize the world by embracing his own formula, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Celebrating the anniversary of Kanye’s debut album means highlighting the innovation and rejuvenation he has continued to bring to each and every industry he dabbles in and ‘We still love Kanye like Kanye loves Kanye.’

Words by Charlie Miller

Graphics by Séverine Denis-Lessard

The post From Kanye to Kim-ye to Yeezy: The Ye-volution appeared first on Voir Fashion.