When Kanye West was working on his Adidas Originals collection he didn’t have willowy models in mind. He looked to wife Kim Kardashian West for inspiration. Why? Because she has the “body of all bodies,” according to the rapper.
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With his new feminine ideal in mind, West told Style.com that it was a challenge to present his clothes (lots of sheer spandex pieces and utilitarian-style coats) “in a way that’s sexy and still dignified.”
“That’s part of the reason why I work with really strong women, that will not allow a woman to even be halfway disrespected,” he shared of his collaboration with Vanessa Beecroft, who helped him stage the show. “It’s such a far cry from what you would traditionally hear and see in rap. It was a complete new education.”
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West also shared that at first, Kim’s influence rattled his credibility in the fashion world.
“She was always my muse, now she’s become other designers’ muses,” he said. “I guess I got a little more credit for my second collection than my first, for whatever that is worth. But soon as we started dating, fashion people were really opposed to the idea of reality stars. And all the relationships, the somewhat friends that I had somewhat built up, completely turned their backs on her and me. They already had their back to her, and now they turned it to me.”
But he used that time to hone his own skills with Kim and the rest of her famous family. (Remember, Kylie walked in his show!) “The so-called traction that I was getting in the high-fashion world was completely thrown out the window and I was finally allowed to go to school, where every day I was in my mom [Kris Jenner]’s house, in my little brother’s old room, Rob’s old room, re-tailoring a Céline skirt, re-tailoring a Saint Laurent jacket, re-tailoring a Zara top, re-tailoring Wolford … And day by day by day, [Kim and I] learned, we got better. We looked at the photographs together and she improved my style, we improved each other.”
The rapper will continue to serve as Kim’s personal stylist, and we have a feeling she’ll continue to inspire his style tastes.What do you think of Kim and Kanye’s high-fashion couple status? Are you a fan of his clothes?
–Brittany Talarico
