Ye, formally known as Kanye West, has had an eventful year thus far. He dated Julia Fox, walked in a Balenciaga fashion show during Paris Fashion Week and lost multiple fashion brand connections.
Ye has a history of mental illness, and his divorce with Kim Kardashian — and Kardasian’s recent relationship with Pete Davidson — seemed to have sent Ye into a downward spiral. People experience heartbreak in different ways, however Ye took things in a poor direction and became a very controversial figure in the fashion world. I love drama, so of course, I had to get in on the action and give a breakdown of all the events that led to Ye’s ultimate fashion demise that cost the celebrity over $1 billion.
The Beginning
It all started during Paris Fashion Week when Ye decided to throw an impromptu Yeezy Season 9 fashion show. He debuted a t-shirt with the pope on the front and “White Lives Matter” emblazoned across the back during the show. Ye and Candace Owens wore the t-shirt as well as some of the models who walked the runway.
Before the show, Ye gave a speech where he hinted at his difficulties with Gap. The Yeezy Gap contract was supposed to run until 2030. However, Ye’s lawyers accused Gap of not properly distributing Yeezy Gap merchandise in its stores, and Gap didn’t open the dedicated Yeezy Gap stores in 2021 as stated in their contract. However, it’s still unclear who dropped who and ended the decade-long partnership.
Nevertheless, the designer and rapper’s “White Lives Matter” t-shirt angered many people on social media, including “Vogue” editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, who expressed her concerns about the t-shirt. Ye clapped back at the criticism with a multitude of tweets and posts on Instagram where he criticized Karefa-Johnson and anyone who supported her thoughts on the subject. This further angered other celebrities and social media users such as Hailey Bieber and Gigi Hadid, who then wrote their own posts supporting Karefa-Johnson. While this was a tense situation, Ye’s controversial actions were only just beginning.
The Middle
After the Yeezy fashion show, Ye did an interview with the right-wing journalist Tucker Carlson, which was broadcasted in early October on Fox News. In the interview, Ye commented on his divorce with Kardashian, his “White Lives Matter” shirt, abortion rights and Lizzo’s weight, among other topics. As Newsweek states in their article about the interview, it’s unclear where Ye got any of the statistics he mentioned throughout the interview.
Ye’s Fox News interview wasn’t the only time he spoke out about his political and social opinions during the week following his fashion show. He also tweeted anti-semantic comments after Sean “Diddy” Combs attempted to intervene during Ye’s social media backlash at the “White Lives Matter” shirt criticism.
Ye continued this hateful rhetoric in multiple resulting interviews, which piqued the interest of anti-semantic extremist groups. This is when Ye’s social media charade went from funny to a little scary, and the fashion industry began to notice. The brands that partnered with Ye began to step back and evaluate the partnerships that they had.
The Ultimate End
Instagram and Twitter had enough of Ye’s anti-semantic behavior and suspended his accounts following his hate post against Jewish people on October 8. The “Vogue” editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, also cut ties with Ye, announced he is no longer a part of the publication’s inner circle and removed all Yeezy Season 9 runway content from their Vogue Runway app and the “Vogue” website. Next, Balenciaga announced that they no longer want anything to do with the rapper and designer, and that they would be terminating any future projects they had planned with him.
Following Balenciaga’s actions, a laundry list of other companies also dropped Ye, such as his financial firm, J.P. Morgan, his talent management company, Creative Artists Agency and Madame Tussauds, who reported they were removing his wax figure from the London museum.
Finally, after much persuasion and after Ye taunted them during an interview, adidas also called it quits with Ye. They terminated production and distribution of Yeezy products immediately.
After all the brand terminations, in hopes to revive some fashion connections, Ye decided to aim for a Skechers collaboration and showed up to their Los Angeles office uninvited and unannounced. He was escorted out, and Skechers — founded by Robert Greenberg, who is Jewish — made a statement that they would be ceasing any further interactions with Ye.
The Future
The rapper and designer’s actions cost him a lot of money and fame. However, maybe after a break from social media, Ye will be able to regain some composure and publicly apologize for his actions. I wish the best for Ye, and I hope in the future he gets someone else to run his social media platforms.
culture@dailynebraskan.com
