Kanye West was spotted wearing a provocative shirt that said “White Lives Matter” shirt at his surprise Yeezy season 9 fashion show in Paris on Monday.
Videos from the Yeezy SZN 9 Runway event showed the rapper participating in what appears to be a choir session ahead of the launch and then a speech that established him as “the leader” while criticizing the media and addressing other elements in fashion.
Wearing bedazzled thong sandals and all black except for the ‘White Lives Matter’ printed on the back of his shirt, Kanye West spoke about a number of things he has experienced in his journey in fashion, Kim Kardashian’s robbery in 2016, and his conversation with Scooter Braun about taking a break which led to him having a mental break down.
“A week after that show happened, my wife at the time got robbed, right here in Paris. Then, I told my manager at that time, Scooter Braun that I just wanted to go to Japan, I needed a break and he said ‘no, you need to go make more money’, so we need to do a second leg of the tour and that tour lasted for four days and I went to the hospital. And every time I do something great, someone brings up that moment, for the rest of my life. It’s the ultimate stigma, people feel they have the right to come to my face and call me ‘crazy’ like it doesn’t hurt my feelings like you don’t have to be crazy in order to change the world,” Ye said in a short speech.
Kanye West also spoke about the critical comments made about his previous fashion shows, where guests complained about waiting for hours in the hot sun, models fainting, and just general disorder.
“We did change the look of fashion over the past 10 years. We are the streets, we are the culture and we will not be bullied or treated differently than you treat any other fashion show that might have started a little later just t present the best ideas to you because these pictures will last forever,” he said.
“I am Ye, and everyone here knows that I am the leader,” he added while mentioning his issues with Gap.
Kanye added that the idea behind his latest collection is “everything is pull on and pull over”.
“Fashion has had a tendency to be extremely classist to say that if you weren’t pretty enough or didn’t have enough money or weren’t born into money or weren’t scamming you couldn’t afford this cut…,” he said as he referenced the boardroom comments differing from what street style required.
“You can’t manage me,” he said as he concluded that his creativity cannot be controlled.
Meanwhile, this is the first time Kanye is taking his designs to Paris Fashion Week. He teased at the beginning of his speech that quite a few famous faces would be at his show, including ex-wife Kim Kardashian, 41, his ex-girlfriend Irina Shayk and his rumored girlfriend Candice Swanepoel, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Angelina Jolie, Lauryn Hill, Naomi Campbell, Emily Ratajkowski, Gisele Bündchen, Bella Hadid and Amelia Gray Hamlin and others.
Candace Owens also appeared at Kanye West event wearing a white shirt with “White Lives Matter” written on the back.
Meanwhile, on Twitter, not everyone is pleased with Kanye’s shirt, especially his black fans who have supported him to the current stage of his career.
“He wants the racists to fw him,” one person wrote.
“I remember when Kanye was all about uplifting the black community. Times have changed,” another said.
“Yikes! This dude advocates more for white people then his own people,” another wrote on Twitter.
“Of course he did. I will now sit back and listen to his fans defend this BS,” another said.
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) October 3, 2022
“White Lives Matter” #YZYSZN9. The Pope is on the front. pic.twitter.com/kVJRqeOUhV
— Vanessa Friedman (@VVFriedman) October 3, 2022
kanye west in a white lives matter shirt pic.twitter.com/GxfwsDYVDD
— ARKANGEL (@itsarkangel) October 3, 2022
