When the ‘Life of Pablo’ rapper debuted his Yeezy Season 4 collection in the blazing heat, hours late, and left models passing out sans water and sitting on the grass, the press rightfully erupted, and even the designer for Bergdorf Goodman came to the rescue. The editorial director for The Cut called the experience “shameful” and said “the most responsible thing we could all do would be to write NOTHING about this show.” To be fair, many models starve themselves to meet the unfair demands of the industry (not Kanye West), and West cannot control the weather. This is certainly not the first nor the worst thing anyone has been asked to do to promote a product. That being said, art often speaks for itself, and there’s no art in passed out models, broken shoes, and less-than-impressive clothes.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The death of one’s brand is low and slow, and I predict Kanye West is on his way. We can argue endlessly about whether all press is good press, and whether this is all part of some master plan, but I beg to differ. His talent is music, not fashion, and the more the public believes him to be an egomaniac, the less likely they are to support him.
Model loses it in heels, Bruce Pask comes to rescue. True gentleman. #YeezySeason4 pic.twitter.com/NWfjaGao04
— @Booth (@Booth) September 7, 2016
Yeezy model throws off her shoes half way through the show pic.twitter.com/wHUjFvCX6A
— GQ Magazine (@GQMagazine) September 7, 2016
Model undone by the heat at Yeezy. pic.twitter.com/vaZlisrMdm
— Vanessa Friedman (@VVFriedman) September 7, 2016