I was speaking to a friend the other day, quite a well-known
designer, who felt that their latest collection wasn’t as well-received
as had been expected. They joked that perhaps, since Kanye West was
attempting a
sort of couture d’etat on the fashion world, perhaps they should go the other way, and launch a music career.
It’s not uncommon for designers to change disciplines. Hedi Slimane
has published fantastic photography books, and Tom Ford managed to shut
everyone the hell up when ‘A Single Man’ was released. Still, these
shifts don’t seem quite analogous to switching from mic-rocking to the
catwalks of Paris.
To be fair, we all know that in the studio Kanye for damn sure
doesn’t lack the minerals, vitamins, irons, or the niacins. This month,
though, as we all know, Yeezy left the runaways in favour of the runway,
with the debut collection of his new label, Dw, at Paris Fashion Week.
Unsurprisingly, reviews were mixed. Cathy Horyn questioned its
presque prêt-à-porter tailoring, and Suzy Menkes called it uninspiring;
while Tim Blanks threw about backhanded compliments like ‘contextually
impeccable’, ‘unprecedented’, and ‘Baby Balmain’ (though B$lmain might
be more appropriate).
To me, the collection’s cashmere & cleavage vibe came off largely
as a wifey fantasy. Unapologetically luxe, indisputably evocative of a
certain lifestyle, the clothes seem to be right in step with the
‘bubbles on the terrace in Southampton’ future that’s surely in store
for the lady that out-Roses Amber.
What the Dw collection really got me thinking about, though, was that
with Kanye neatly side-stepping from rapper to design wunderkind, what
would happen if some of the other fashion designers made the inverse
career switch.
A surprising number of designers were on hand to lend their support,
from Olivier Theyskens to Azzedine Alaïa, Dean and Dan Caten (D Squared)
to Jeremy Scott.
Read the rest of the article after the jump.
There’s a grand tradition of rappers playing make believe and
subverting their life stories for the purpose of their music, from drug
dealing fever dreams to The Coup’s cocktail party cypher Takin’ These
(”Now if you’re blind as Helen Keller you can see I’m David
Rockefeller/So much cash, up in my bathroom there’s a ready teller”). So
there’s really no reason that the odd couturier couldn’t grab a little
street cred on the mic.
Below, a few of our most anticipated upcoming fash-raps:
Karl Lagerfeld:
Style: Flexing his trademark pan-German elocution and ferocious
intelligence in Das Racist-esque stream of consciousness couplets
(”extra large fashion is aesthetic sophistry, less than 15 collections a
year upper class lethargy….”)
Christopher Bailey:
Video aesthetic: Throwback to Robert Palmer’s ‘Simply Irresistible’,
featuring Coco Rocha et al dressed in Burberry Macintoshes paired with
torn fishnets.
Go-to lyrical influence: Slick Rick’s Mona Lisa (”B: Blue-Blooded, U: Unctous, R: Rakish, B…”)
Sarah Burton:
Lead-off single: Baroqoco (video directed by that other Burton).
Crew: In a daring move, that Cambridge sociologists say might quell some
of the recent rioting, the album will feature guest performances from
both the House of Windsor and the So-Solid Crew (remember them?).
John Galliano:
Lead-off single: Misunderstood (chorus by Crystal Kay, spoken word interpolations by Michel Houellebecq)
Influences: Leni Riefenstahl biography (audiobook), Grandmaster Flash
and the Furious Five (due to love of their wardrobe subtlety), Ezra
Pound (for his facial hair strategy and edits of The Wasteland,
equally), absolutely everyone in Shibuya.
Text by
@quentincrispy
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