Yeezy Season 3 / The Life Of Pablo Presentation
Kanye West presented his Yeezy Season 3 collection, as well as his new album "The Life Of Pablo" in Madison Square Garden on February 11th. Luckily I was able to scoop some tickets.
I entered the arena and the floor of Madison Square Garden was completely covered by a sheet which obviously covered the stage in which the models would stand on. Just being in that atmosphere and getting myself mentally prepared for Kanye's visual circus was unlike anything I have ever experienced.
The Kardashian/Jenner clan walked out in all white outfits with fur coats, which were all designed by Balmain's creative director, Olivier Rousting. Kanye walked out in his Yeezus baseball cap and concert tee while carrying his infamous black laptop. Yeezy made his way to the audio booth and proceeded to say "I'm going to play my album now." Halfway into his first track ( Ultra Light Beams) , the sheet was pulled in half to reveal the models and the 1200 extras fully decked out in Yeezy Season clothing as well as adidas sneakers and boots. The music paired with the dramatic close up shots of the models and clothing was really powerful in my opinion. Kanye described the album as a gospel album, and that is exactly what it is. The production mixed with the audio of MSG was a full body experience. Some of the models had tears casually rolling down their faces. I don't know if that was intended or if it was their true emotion.
The experience was very empowering and inspirational. Kanye had somewhat of a rant, but it was a full circle of what he was so angry about two years ago on his Yeezus tour, which included being limited on what he can create, and being contained only to music. So for him to display his clothing and album together was really just proving that he can create beauty in multiple medias. However he did entice a "Fuck Nike" chant, and then played "Facts" immediately after which was typical Kanye. However, Kanye stressed that all of this was "not easy." By that he meant "flying back and forth from Milan and Paris, putting down bars, and putting together this show." However, he was really positive overall. Kanye was very thankful to everyone who helped set up the show and the album, and seemed really happy to be with his friends and family.
As far as the clothing, there were a lot of exciting pieces to this new collection. The new 350 boost features a colorful stripe on the side of the sneaker. Also the 1050 boots are a much more improved model of the 950 boots. They are waterproof and have a much slimmer silhouette than the 950's. As far as the outerwear goes, the women's was much better than the men's. The first coat that really stood out to me was a shearling coat, which had a very similar fit to Vetements clothing, known for its cropped tops and oversized sleeves. He also made a change to his use of color. In season 1 & 2 he had a color pallet that was for the most part a similar shade. The new collection had flashes of vibrant red, neon yellow, and orange. It was nice to see a variety of color on display, because the clothing stood out as individual pieces, rather than just another shade in Kanye's clothing regime. Overall, I believe this collection was a step up from Season 2, but I still think Season 1 is better overall. Below I have picked out my favorite looks from both the men's and women's collections.
These are my favorite looks from the Women's Ready-to-Wear
These are my favorite looks from the new Men's Ready-to-Wear collection.
All Images via Vogue.com
Watch the Yeezy Season 3 recap here.
The experience of witnessing his fashion show, and hearing the album for the first time was incredible. At one point, I felt like I was at church, because of the gospel choir in the undertone of his song-Ultra Light Beams. It seemed everyone involved with the fashion show and as well as the entire audience was apart of something bigger than just a fashion show or just music. This was pure creativity in its truest form.