Kanye West has a pretty wide, high-profile repertoire. He’s a 21-time Grammy winner, uber-famous rap star, songwriter, record producer, director and entrepreneur.

And now you can add fashion designer to that list. Sort of.

According to a Feb. 13 Business Insider article, this past Thursday West showcased “Yeezy: Season 1” at his first fashion show in New York City. The collection featured his designs as part of a collaboration with the Adidas Originals design team.

To put it in one word, it was interesting.

The first point to take note of was that the show itself started an hour later than originally scheduled. I don’t know if they had some sort of crazy wardrobe malfunction behind the scenes, but for what the collection looked like, I would have been disappointed waiting an hour for that.

The models lined up in nine rows, with each row coming forward one by one into blinding lights to show off their threads. West’s collection was a mix of camouflage, bomber jackets, sweats, oversized tops and spandex body suits that really just left nothing to the imagination.

The whole thing was pretty devoid of color — sticking to muted olive, tan and gray colors with the occasional bright hue making its way into the ensemble — and adorned with a vague militarism.

In addition to color, the collection seemed to be missing design. According to the Feb. 13 Business Insider article, Adidas called the collection “a study in contrasts like street-luxury and vintage-new, the clothing shapes a new modern wardrobe.” Refinery 29 called it “meh.” I call it the collection where he is overtrying to underdo it.

Where is the daring Kanye West that interrupted Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards?

The collection featured many luxurious fabrics, yet the collection itself was anything but. West was aiming for an upscale laid-back type vibe with a modern twist, but he really missed the mark on this one. Sure, there are individual pieces out of the whole collection that are wearable. But the majority would make the average person feel uncomfortable.

There was too much spandex that showed too much nipple and every bone, curve and angle of each person’s body. These models looked like someone kicked them out of the dressing room before they could get fully ready. These spandex pieces look like undergarments that performers would wear underneath their costumes.

Underwear as outerwear has always been a trend, but West’s line takes it a little bit too far. The models feel too exposed, even if they are covered from head to toe.

The one thing I can give props to is his use of a wide range of models in his show, a stark contrast to the zombie-like, pale skinned shows we are used to seeing. West featured men and women with a wider array of ethnicities, skin colors, heights and sizes. I mean, they still look pretty similar — and they don’t represent the average person at all — but compared to the rest of the fashion world, he’s is a few steps ahead.

Pretty much every celebrity West has ever worked with was at the show to give Yeezy some support, including Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Anna Wintour, Alexander Wang, P. Diddy, Jay Z and Beyoncé.

North West started to cry as the show started, having to be carried out so that she wouldn’t interrupt. In response, her father said, “Maybe she was just scared for her daddy. She just wanted people to stop being mean to her daddy.”

But let’s be real here — she was dropping a hint that her dad just wasn’t picking up on.

What I want to know is what Anna Wintour, editor in chief of Vogue magazine and fashion’s biggest authority, thinks about West’s collection. Is it in, or is it out?

Please let the answer be out.

Alexis McDonell is a junior magazine journalism major. Her column appears weekly in Pulp. You can email her at admcdone@syr.edu.

Published on February 16, 2015 at 12:01 am