The biggest buzz of Paris Fashion Week was Kanye West’s first womenswear collection which is titled ‘Dw by Kanye West’. The Dw is supposed to stand for his mother’s name, Donde West.
The designer had personally selected a group of 100 people which included journalists, buyer and bloggers, so I was honoured to be invited.
Everyone was speculating about who was going to be in the front row. Rumours included Beyonce, Jay Z and even Natalie Portman.
All the top models walked in the show, with Chanel Iman flying in especially.
So what about the clothes?
Despite critics not being that impressed, I actually quite liked them.
I did think some of the pieces were a tad heavy for spring, especially the furs and the crocodile skins, but the light colour palette of mostly white, ivory and blush made up for that.
We saw sexy bandage dresses, made much sexier by cut outs or open zippers, plunging necklines, futuristic cuts, leather pants, fur trim jackets, hooded coats and slouchy pants.
Will Kanye be winning any design awards? Judging by the critics, no.
Will front row attendees Ciara and Lindsay Lohan wear this collection on the red carpet?
Most definitely. It wouldn’t surprise me if Ciara was Kanye’s muse, as I can see her wearing several pieces.
Key accessories included four unique Giuseppe Zanotti heels created especially for the show, a gold ‘Yeezy’ nameplate necklace and a fur backpack.
Front Row: Jared Leto, Ciara, Mary Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen, Lindsay Lohan, Sky Ferreira , Azzedine Alaia, Peter Marino, Olivier Theyskens , Bianca Brandolini D’Adda, Silvia Fendi, Delfina Delettrez Fendi, Alexander Wang, Dean and Dan Caten of DSquared, Terry Richardson , Leigh Leizark, Giuseppe Zanotti, Ozwald Boateng Joseph Altuzarra
Favourites: White ensemble with fitted pants and nude bandage dress
Who Do I See Wearing This Collection: Ciara, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Kate Moss, Vanessa and Angela Simmons
Credit: Style.com & Instagram pictures belong to Red Carpet Fashion Awards
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Posted by Catherine Kallon on October 3rd, 2011 In: Kanye West, Paris Fashion Week
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Wow, it sure was a star-studded show! I like the outft in the fourt photo!
So unexpected that there were so many designers in the front row, Azzedine, Olivier,Joseph, Alex Wang!
Its nice that they’re all showing their support.
i agree on how heavy the collection is and on that it’s not winning any awards. that said, i think that this type of dressing has a strong clientele!
totally. This will sell very well.
It looks really amateurish and derivative to me.
I didn’t like it one bit. It was all over the place. A lot of the pieces look like something one of the attendees had already created for their collection.
Poor Kanye. He might have a strong and intense interest in fashion but he genuinely failed with this first runway effort in my opinion. Thematically, the collection ha no coherence and the fit on most of pieces was contemptible. I understand that people might pick and choose pieces from this collection and actually look quote good in them but to show in Paris, a designer needs a coherent message and a strong vision. Kanye conveyed neither during the show. Perhaps he should have adopted the slowly, slowly approach of the Olsens and Victoria Beckham in entering the fashion pool and build credibility before staging a dully-fledged runway show. For me, this show was dire.
I don’t get the hate tbh. I think it’s a bit consistent but it’s got a lot of potential and there are far worse collections out there, I think people just don’t like Kanye and are a bit biased about celebrities doing collections.
I actually see influences of Alexander Wang in this.
I’m sure he’ll improve in future, he’s very serious about it. The one thing he did get right was the cast. FLAWLESS choice of models.
Whoops I meant ‘inconsistent’ not consistent…
I agree completely. People with not one creative bone in their body are being total snobs. If Mary Kate and Ashley who used to sell crap at Walmart? can have a overly expensive line of recycled 90′s clothes at least give Kanye a chance.
It was a great effort, I do like some of the pieces and I love the clean styling.
Exactly!
There are actually worse shows (unless we’ve all forgotten Rodarte Spring/Summer 2012′s awful dreck) and more awkward designers. Kanye has potential and passion for it and people will definitely wear these clothes they are just a bit underwhelming for Paris fashion week.
I completely agree. Most people don’t like kanye so of course they won’t like his music and collection. I liked it and thought it was a good effort for someone’s first collection. I can see him getting better
I thought this whole collection was so over-designed. It struck me as the work of an under-experienced, over-eager fashion obsessive with rather lofty pretensions, which I guess sums up Kanye West quite neatly.
Perfectly put.
I absolutely and completely despise this man for a number of reasons, so I am finding it difficult to remain objective about anything he produces, whether it genuinely has merit or not.
Wow, Lindsay Lohan in the front row of … anything? Aside from that, which is enough to give me a raging hate-on, I think the collection is, ya know, fine. It’s not art and it’s not amazing, but people will wear it.
Its entitlement and privilege at its worst.
So many talented designers out there will never see the light of runway despite their talent.
For celebrities, its just another THING to put their name on and capitalize. Such a shame.
Id say Victoria Beckham and Olsen twins found their schick but they always seemed geniuinly interested in fashion, and voila, their stuff is beautiful, expensive and well made.
This is all IMHO, but, the collection really doesn’t feel very original to me, like it is referencing others previous collections. Also, there are major issues with the fit of some items. Questions raised include: This is S/S, so why are we looking at black layered leather with extra fur? Why is there such reliance on tit-tape (look 3 particularly on nymag.com)? What on earth is going on in look 12?? Did he run out of ideas for look 17′s lower half?
I can’t pretend look 10 is anything other than awful. Any other designer producing this quality of work work be criticised way more than he has been. If it was their first collection they certainly wouldn’t have had the top models and the massive publicity, and probably wouldn’t be given a second chance. It doesn’t feel very fair, somehow.
i am not a guru about designers styles, but i think it is kind of, very little part of alexander wang-ish. i like the necklace
Terrificant collection …. no style but only money to spend in another adventure
when i heard kanye was going to present his first collection i thot oh thats gotta be good, i m deff gonna check out this clown’s trainwreck to laugh at it. so i did. & i was kinda impressed. i dont think i d wear much of his stuff, maybe some pieces & yes, furs were too much, but all in all it had potential, some serious potential, its not trashy or cheap looking (i m looking at u jlo & lauren conrad), it was all well put together not all over the place, it seemed like he knew what he was doing. once again, its not my thing, but it was a good collection, i m sure there would be a lot of ppl who d like it
HideOus don’t give up the day job
I was disappointed. There is no signature style, no point of view, the clothing didn’t appear to fit or look properly tailored and didn’t appear to thread together. It’s very hard to be a designer. It’s natural for him to put things together extremely well. He has great style but I think if asked if HE would wear his collection-I don’t think he ever would wear any of that. That says it all to me.-hot shoe or not.
Don’t think the collection might get this much hate if it wasnt ‘by Kanye West’
personally thinks its very good for first time round. Obviously its not couture but the pieces are very wearable and i can see this having a strong following. Also we have to remember this is his FIRST time! he will get better with experience as does everyone. but his stuff is like a thousand times better than the crap lauren conrad and whitney port spew out.
YES!