Ye, née Kanye West, has lengthy been fascinated by the thought of camouflage—generally sartorially, however extra usually conceptually. Whether or not he’s sporting a full-face masks, or transferring to after which away from rural Wyoming, or stripping down his identify to a monosyllabic moniker, he’s toyed round with the extent to which he can disguise his identification or look. That pursuit has turn out to be much less like a method transfer and extra like a conceptual artwork efficiency over time. It makes you ponder whether or not somebody as well-known as he’s can efficiently conceal themselves in any respect.
All that’s to say: the form of cumbersome, booted, Balenciaga-heavy outfits that Ye has spent the final 12 months sporting (and designing, and promoting) have turn out to be routine to the purpose that they’ve turn out to be part of him. Like his unfathomably well-known ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, Ye has turn out to be recognizable just by his silhouette—a lot so that in the first place many assumed it was Ye, slightly than a masked-up Demna, accompanying a spandex-sheathed Kardashian to the Met Gala final fall. And even when he fortunately hasn’t gotten followers to put on morph swimsuit masks whereas out and about in public, he’s made dressing like a lobsterman right into a modus operandi with a designer price ticket, which has impressed many followers to begin tucking their denims into some huge honkin’ boots within the course of.
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So on the subject of Ye’s uniform dressing, even small deviations appear notable. Final week, he stepped out in Los Angeles sporting what one may enterprise to name “Kanye informal”: a sleeveless Balenciaga emblem hoodie over a inexperienced camouflage long-sleeve, with a pair of dishevelled grey denim carpenter pants, a weathered baseball cap very similar to those Demna usually wears, and lug-soled black work boots. Nothing right here is precisely new to Kanye outfit oeuvre—he’s at all times beloved workwear, military surplus gear, and camo print, even when it’s gotten him into bother—however we haven’t seen him put collectively garments like this in a while. (That, and military inexperienced is extra shade than we’ve seen him put on in months.) Whether or not or not he’s totally shifting gears on his Donda uniform, it’s nonetheless secure to say that no matter’s occurring with Ye’s private model is a gradual sign for what’s to come back within the menswear realm. That, or possibly dressing somewhat otherwise is Ye’s precise type of camouflage.
