Kanye West is facing backlash for displaying his Yeezy Gap collection out of large black bags, but the rapper has called it “innovative”.
What do Ye’s Instagram posts and fashion releases have in common? They’re both unpredictable. Yeezy’s shoe collections have stirred up mixed reactions every time, and even though the majority are negative, they somehow still manage to sell out time and time again.
As for his clothing drops, the rapper tends to favor dark or neutral-colored baggy athleisure to form layered looks, and his collaboration with Gap is surprisingly no different, considering he teamed up with Balenciaga creative director and longtime friend Demna Gvasalia on the eight-piece selection.
“I’m an innovator” – Kanye West
Shoppers took to social media to complain about Gap’s in-store experience, where the collection was spotted piled high in heavy-duty black bags. “This is how they are selling Yeezy Gap,” a customer wrote alongside a photo of three bags. “The sales associate said Ye got mad when he saw they had it on hangers and this is how he wanted it. They won’t help you find your size too, you just have to dig through everything,” they alleged.
However, another buyer proved that some branches had the collection neatly presented:
In true Ye fashion, he unapologetically defended his artistic decision in an August 18 interview with Fox & Friends.
“I’m an innovator, and I’m not here to sit up and apologize about my ideas,” he said. “That’s exactly what the media tries to do. Make us apologize for any idea that doesn’t fall under exactly the way they want us to think.”
“This is not a joke, this is not a game, this is not just some celebrity collaboration,” the Gold Digger rapper continued. “This is my life. I’m fighting for a position to be able to change clothing and bring the best design to the people.”
The Kanye complaints continue
Ye’s motivation for the unique display technique isn’t to poke fun at the homeless, which some have alleged, but to allow “customers to informally reach in and help themselves because Ye’s goal is to ‘make life easier.'”
Fresh displays started off with folded hoodies, but as customers rummaged through, the neat presentations quickly transformed into unorganized mountains of clothing.
Fox And Friends’ Eric Shawn reports that the rapper is “trying to help people, the less fortunate across the country” with his laidback fashion “by making it easier to dress”. However, at $240 per hoodie, prices are pretty inaccessible.
Despite his defense, fans are still not buying his comments.
“Why are the rich obsessed with looking poor? They love to play pretend. Wonder if this is Kanye’s way of tricking people with money to act homeless. Like a performance art piece,” a Twitter fan suggested.
Another agreed: “This is like trying to shop at Ross, or Marshall’s, or a flea market. Making people ‘work’ to buy your merchandise isn’t necessarily the smartest option. It limits the number of people who will buy it.” It’s all part of the Ye experience.
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