Tonight at a Parisian location that would be irresponsible to share Kanye West  or Ye as he now prefers  will present his eleventh fashion show an event that came together away from the official Paris Fashion Week calendar. It will be his ninth collection for Yeezy which as of now is formally named YZY and his fourth ever show in Paris.





Seven of the eight previous YZY shows were in New York. Why Paris now?  Paris is the high cathedral of fashion. If I Am doing music, rap music I am going to put my hoodie on and get an Uber and go over to Futures house. Day after day. And if we are working on clothes? Paris. He held two pre YZY shows in Paris under his own name in 2011 and 2012. His most recent show here  as a designer not guest or model was immediately before the pandemic at the front of 2020.


We meet on Sunday the night before the show  at his venue. Ye grabs a bowl of salmon salad from the buffet and leads me along with his daughter North and his just appointed show PR rep Lucien Pagès to a corner away from the focused uproar of preparation. It was a busy day for Ye. He opened Balenciaga for Demna  a designer he calls  the master cutter  who until very recently  partnered with him on an ill fated collaboration for Gap. Later he sat at Givenchy to show support for Matthew Williams  who worked in design on Pastelle Yes first ever label and later served as art director at Donda, West’s creative agency.


Shortly before 6pm he returned to the show venue to check up on a YZY collection that he oversaw and was designed in consultation with Shayne Oliver. As I wait I chat with Michèle Lamy and Christine Centenera the stylist who has been the one constant at all 11 Ye shows. He HAs building a world  says Centenera as she nips out to get some flats for the long night ahead.


We sit. Chewing ruminatively, Ye delivers the first of many delicious lines.  You know specifically in this fashion context I see myself more as a George Lucas than a fashion designer. I work with true true true fashion designers. Like Shayne like Demna like Riccardo Tisc My main job is to be a producer in a Quincy Jones sense. Who takes a symphony of ideas and then plays a song. Asked to share the concept of the collection we will see later he says Theres just people. From the same planet. And sometimes in high school it feels like we do  nOt fit in. And in a situation like this we have the opportunity to come together to express who we are. It aligns with his career as an artist Yes first three studio albums were The College Dropout Late Registration and Graduation.