It has been confirmed that the Kering-owned company Balenciaga has cut ties with Kanye West following a series of antisemitic posts and other controversial comments from the rapper, according to a report from Women’s Wear Daily citing a statement from Balenciaga’s parent company.
Kering, Balenciaga's parent company, recently published a statement communicating their decision: "Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist."
The decision comes after Ye has continued to cause controversy within the fashion industry and on social media, following his YZYSZN9 runway show held off-schedule during Paris Fashion Week. It was here where Ye displayed a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt, which resulted in a media uprising against the rapper. Since, Ye has made anti-Semitic threats alongside consistently taking to social media to voice his opinions on his critics.
It’s been a tumultuous couple of weeks for Ye. His appearance at Burberry in London, followed by walking the runway at Balenciaga Summer 2023’s “The Mud Show” and his attendance at Givenchy’s Paris Fashion Week show brought potential hope to the rapper-turned-fashion designer; implying Ye could be here to support the industry, per Hypebeast.
However, his more-than-controversial YEEZY show (or YZYSZN9 as he likes to call it) caused an uprising in the fashion industry, on social media, and even with his then-supporters. Since, Ye has attempted to explain the reason behind his “White Lives Matter” T-shirt on the infamously Republican and Trump-supporting platform, Fox News, before going on to Instagram to comment on a number of people that shared their opinions on him — which resulted in him being given restricted access to the app.
The controversy continued to unravel, as Ye acquired the Conservative social media channel Parler, and then, George Floyd’s estate was said to be suing Ye for $250M USD for false claims on death. Now, it seems that Balenciaga — the luxury fashion house run by Demna — has cut ties with Ye.
First, Balenciaga seemingly removed all images of Ye from its runway coverage — noticed first on Vogue Runway. Following this, YEEZY GAP ENGINEERED BY BALENCIAGA has been removed from not just its own stores and website, but from all retailers globally.
At the time of writing, various former supporters have cut ties with Ye, with the likes of Tremaine Emory drawing the line with him following the “White Lives Matter” T-shirt moment. It all comes after Ye seemingly fell out with GAP and Adidas somewhat simultaneously, leading the latter to then put the YEEZY deal “under review” given the outcome of the YZYSZN9 show and Ye’s antics, according to WWD.
With this in mind, it can only be assumed that Balenciaga is no longer affiliating itself with Mr. West. Silent omission of content proves that actions are sometimes louder than words.
It was his latest collaboration with Balenciaga artistic director Demna, following the launch earlier this year of their Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga line, which dropped in February in tandem with Ye’s “Donda 2” experience performance in Miami. Demna served as creative director for an earlier listening event for the album last year.
The designer also has a strong relationship with Ye’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian, who appears in advertising campaigns for Balenciaga, and her extended family. Sisters Kylie Jenner and Khloé Kardashian attended the Balenciaga show on Oct. 2.
As The New York Times previously reported, West and Demna’s relationship really solidified in 2019. The two texted constantly and eventually started working together again, with Demna serving as the creative director on West’s Donda listening parties in 2021.
“With Ye, I have something that I don’t really have with other people, where anything is possible,” Demna told The Times last year. “For me, talking with him is like going back in time to the 8-year-old me who doesn’t have all these barriers and filters. We spent like two and a half hours talking about buttons. Those kinds of conversations help me to evolve as a designer because I think: ‘Yeah, why do we do it like this? Why buttons? Why packaging?’ I never thought about that before.”
Ye last month terminated his partnership with Gap Inc., signaling an increasingly combative attitude that has also left his 10-year relationship with Adidas hanging in the balance. The German sportswear firm said on Oct. 6 its partnership with the Yeezy brand was “under review.”
The rapper, who was diagnosed in 2016 with bipolar disorder, has appeared to spiral out of control since staging a surprise YZY show in Paris that featured T-shirts with the slogan “White Lives Matter” and opened with a monologue in which he prided himself as being “unmanageable.”
Sources: Marca, Hypebeast, WWD, The New York Times, The Rolling Stone
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