Whether it’s the street, the stage or the red carpet, Kanye West has a look that is all his own. He blends brands like Adidas and Versace, mixing leisure wear with formal wear and he’s as likely to wear a zip-up Dickies jacket to a red-carpet event as he is to don Louis Vuitton for a trip to his favourite restaurant; McDonald’s. Kanye likes a monochrome look that’s strong on blacks and whites. He’s prepared to mix brands to get the right colour look and often favours khaki; mashing up his own version of military chic. Sometimes he uses this monochrome look to highlight one extravagant fashion item such as his $19,000 gold chain by Jacob Arabo, a florescent orange Prada Linea Rossa jacket or that now infamous red “Make America Great Again” cap that he wore to the White House. Some say that Kanye’s style is less fashion sense and more a point of view and whilst you might not agree with all his fashion choices, you can’t deny that they’re authentically Kanye. It’s a style that bounces effortlessly from the street to high society and totally reflects the man within. He definitely has favourite brands like luxury icons Balmain (who he collaborated with for his “Wolves” video), Tom Ford, Balenciaga and Dior, classic active wear from Puma, Vans and New Balance, hip hop mainstays such as Timberland and, of course, Adidas who collaborate with him on Yeezy. West’s personal brand is an extension of his persona and Yeezy’s signature range of sneakers, zip up jackets and high-end leisurewear all scream Kanye.
Klassic Kanye
Here’s an example of Kanye’s signature dressing style. A loose fitting tee shirt (think Acne, APC, Givenchy or, of course, Yeezy), slim fit jeans by Balmain or Helmut Lang and military style boots usually by Louis Vuitton, Rothco or Yeezy.
Kanye’s Church Clothes
West took his Sunday Service gospel inspired show to Coachella and received a great response with the entire ensemble dressed in West’s Yeezy tee-shirts and Church Clothes sweat pants. To coinicide he had his Church Clothes fashion range for sale at the uber-luxury festival which received a mixed response. Coming in basic hues and emablazoned with simple, devotional messages, many baulked at the asking price of over $70 for a pair of socks or $300 for a basic hoodie.
Mix and match
Kanye loves mixing up styles. Seen here is one of his favourite jackets from fashion house Balmain, designed by Olivier Rousteing. He pairs his ultra glam outer wear with St Laurent custom destroyed skinny jeans and a simple white hoody, most likely a very affordable Hoodlum Eco Fleece pullover from Alternative Apparel with the drawstring around the neck removed.
Dressing down with Dickies
Kanye attended the 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art and ruffled a few feathers on the red carpet by dressing anything other than camp. Clad in simple black trousers, Yeezy working boots, a plain white teeshirt and a $70 zip up “Eisenhower jacket” by workman’s clothing brand Dickies, he arrived looking positively janitorial. Kanye later claimed he dressed down because he didn’t want to take away from Kim in her nude, wet look dress by acclaimed designer Thierry Mugler.
Red Carpet Style
Kanye doesn’t always dress down for the big occasions and he certainly loves a tailored suit. This velvet tuxedo by Peter Dundas for Roberto Cavalli that Kanye wore to the 2015 Met Gala is matched with a velvet kimono shirt and a silk embroidered scarf.
Yeezy ensemble
Here’s an example of Kanye mixing and matching brands to create uniform colour palette at Versace’s 2019 spring collection launch. A simple blue/grey outfit of Yeezy 700 sneakers, a Yeezy tee shirt and Brain Dead sweat pants is given an upgrade by a stylish Undercover Jun Takahashi trench coat and Van Cleef jewellery.
Statement T-shirts
Kanye, like a lot of hip hop stars, has always favoured oversized t-shirts and over the past few years he’s taken to creating custom designed t-shirts with eye popping graphics and obscure phrases for his Yeezy brand in limited runs that sell out almost immediately. In December at a Prada-hosted event in Miami, West debuted his XXXTentacion Yeezy X Skins tee shirt a startling collaboration with graphic designer JJ Villard celebrating the release of the deceased rapper XXXTentacion’s posthumous album Skins.
Cuban heels
When he’s not wearing sneakers or combat boots, Kanye loves a pair of suede cuban heel boots. Here he’s seen with Kim at LAX sporting a lovely pair of Saint Laurent suede boots along with some Saint Laurent skinny jeans. To finish out the retro feel of this outfit he’s wearing an oversized vintage 90’s Rolling Stones tour t-shirt and a velvet Sukajan bomber jacket.
Mad Hatter
Kanye loves a “dad hat” (that’s a baseball cap to the uninitiated) and he can be seen in anything from Burberry to Yeezy on a regular basis. His most famous baseball cap moment came in 2018 when Ye visited President Trump in the White House and added the infamous red “Make America Great Again” cap to his utilitarian black outfit saying it made him “feel like Superman”. Kanye also likes get out there in a beanie and his favourites come from French ready to wear fashion brand APC.
Military Chic
A colour palate of greens, browns and khakis is something Kanye likes and this ensemble features a mix of brands and styles. A simple hoody (along with Alternative Apparel he likes The Gap, APC and Givenchy when it comes to plain hooded tops), Calabasas Track pants by Adidas and Yeezy Season 3 military boots are topped off with a Brown Duck Barn Coat by Pointer.
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