Two days ago Kanye West decided that “new slaves” needed to pick Egyptian cotton and released his capsule collection of overpriced t-shirts, jeans and hooded sweatshirts. The threads are created in conjunctions with A.P.C. and is the latest in Yeezy’s foray into the world of fashion.
A.P.C.’s founder Jean Touitou conducted an interview with Style.com to discuss working with the enigmatic Mr. West and boldly concluded that “Fashion killed rock and roll. Fashion killed contemporary art, and turned it vulgar. And if hip-hop artists are not careful it will also kill hip-hop.” Says the man peddling $120 plain white “Hip-Hop” T-shirts and $280 hoodies.
Is he referring to the audacity of the APC Kanye line? If so then, yes. He is correct. Over the years Kanye has been attempting to pull the David Blain level illusion of raging against the machine on behalf of the people, while demonstrating at every turn how out of touch he actually is. Now the man he has partnered with to peddle more fashion is flatly stating that the path we’re on as a culture is self destructive.
This is akin to Ronald McDonald sliding your kid a Happy Meal while smugly saying that those McNuggets are gonna lead to Cancer and charging you $50 for the box that comes with a free Toy covered in lead paint.
So is this line of clothes supposed to be the panacea for hip-hop’s fashion affliction? It’s more like the symptom we thinks. But there will be too many people lining up to pay the obscene prices for these clothes to keep up with the celebrities who will get to wear it for free.
But you don’t hear us…
