Models walking at the Yeezy show in Los Angeles.Getty Images
The show started with the sound of the first note (E6) of the piano part at the beginning of Ye’s song Runaway. Models marched around a giant mound in the middle of the room in leather trench coats, militaristic jackets, shorts cut like briefs, and monochrome combat uniforms in shades of bone, charcoal, black, and red. Some of the models wore chunky combat boots that rose up the calf; others balanced on thin stilettos, including a pair of knee-high cream boots that looked like they belonged to a space-age dominatrix. It was utilitarian and a bit fetishy. The pacing of the runway walks was relentless, as if Ye was hitting you over the head with this concept until you thought it was cool. After the show, Ye walked out to a standing ovation, wearing an all-black leather outfit, black military boots, and a huge gold tiger-shaped belt buckle.
There is something fascinating about the fact that Ye can still draw adoring crowds like this one in Koreatown, and sell out football stadiums while other artists find themselves on black lists for doing way less (Javier Bardem, for example, claims he’s lost roles and brand endorsement deals because of his opposition to the war in Gaza). Ye’s last major runway show was in October 2022, during Paris Fashion Week, when he sent models down the runway wearing shirts emblazoned with the words “White Lives Matter.” The stunt led to a public confrontation with then Vogue fashion editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, whom Ye proceeded to attack online after she criticized the collection (Vogue, like Vanity Fair, is owned by Condé Nast). The whole thing, plus his breakup with Adidas (a brand that was started by two former members of the Nazi party) over a series of antisemitic comments, amounted to a huge fall from grace for someone who once enjoyed the patronage of Anna Wintour and helped reshape the next generation of streetwear.