Kanye West Continues to Push the Boundaries….

In late November 2010, the ever-controversial hip-hop artist, Kanye West, released his fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. You would think the name says it all, however the album covers say even more: dark, twisted fantasies are not beautiful.

George Condo, the artist commissioned to create the album artwork, revealed that Kanye desired an album cover image that would be banned. According to some sources, the artwork of the five album covers follows theme of the music, as well as West’s music film Runaway. Condo and West spent a few hours listening to the album after which Condo made between eight and nine paintings for the album. A month prior to it’s release, Kanye announced on social networks that the album had been rejected by some stores due to its cover. I can see why, one in particular is rather explicit. For that very reason I have not included pictures of that particular album cover artwork.

Inspired by the artwork on the album , acclaimed graphic design and art direction duo M/M (Paris) have designed a new range of scarves.  According to nowness.com, M/M’s Mathias Augustyniak and Michael Amzalag were commissioned to create an “illustrative letterset for the album’s liner notes as a complement to its cover art series of five bawdy paintings by American artist George Condo. The duo then approached West with the idea of fusing the artistic factors into a collection of limited-edition silk scarves, creating a multi-faceted combination of their baroque-style lettering with Condo’s imagery. The scarves measure almost a square meter in size. According to Augustyniak and Amzalag, who have worked extensively with other musicians such as Björk, working with West was indeed a form of erudition: “a complex exploration of power.”

Photos: www.nowness.com

No College Dropout…Back to School for Kanye West

According to British newspaper, The Sun, Kanye West has applied for a Master’s degree in fashion at the world renowned Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London.  Graduates of the school include designers Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney.  Perhaps Kanye is at odds with his 2004 debut title, College Dropout and has decided to do something about it.

According to the newspaper’s source:  ”Kanye spends a lot of time with fashion students and often hooks up with Central’s arty pupils when he is in London.

With girlfriend Amber Rose at Paris Fashion Week 2011

The newspaper reports that the American rapper has not been accepted yet but has had been meeting with various professors at the college. It’s said that Kanye flew into London on Wednesday to meet the head of the course, Professor Louise Wilson. Known by some as the ‘style dictator’, professor Wilson is said to have quite a formidable reputation in the industry and it’s reported that she won’t give Kanye a place solely based on his fame. No surprise there…the ‘style dictator’ has governed the careers of many top design students for over the past two decades and is most likely set on maintaining the extremely high standards the college has become known for.

However the latest developments in the story are painting a completely different picture altogether. According to heatworld.com, the rumours about West’s pursuit of a fashion degree are not true: 

The site reported that Jo Ortman, press officer for Central St Martins, sent an email to MTV insisting Kanye’s recent visit to the university was nothing to do with wanting to be the next Karl Lagerfeld.

“Kanye West is not enrolling in [the] Ma Fashion [programme] at Central St Martins College of Art and Design. He visited the college last week on unrelated matters.”

My question is why would he visit the college if not to enroll there and what other ‘unrelated matters’ would he be interested in? Having acquired work experience at both Fendi and Louis Vuitton and apparently at GAP as well, I’d say that Kanye West is more than serious about his couture pursuits. The question is, how long will it be before everyone else takes him seriously?

Out on the street: Paris Fashion week

Photo sources: www.justjared.buzznet.com; www.fashionbombdaily.com; www.reallyrich.com