Kanye West’s YZY Paris fashion week runway show sparks criticism

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
Oct 5, 2022

Kanye West’s latest fashion statement has sparked widespread criticism from industry insiders and celebrities alike. 

On Monday, West debuted at his Yeezy fashion show in Paris a shirt with the slogan “White Lives Matter”. In particular, Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, described his White Lives Matter show as an “incredibly irresponsible and dangerous act.”

West responded by attacking the editor in a series of Instagram feed posts that mocked her appearance, which have since been deleted. In fact, West has posted and deleted a number of messages to his Instagram defending his statement including on one past where on a black background with white text, he wrote, “Everyone knows that Black Lives Matter is a scam.”

Since then, supermodel Gigi Hadid has jumped to defend Karefa-Johnson in a heated Instagram comment blasting the musician for bullying. 

Vogue also shared that they are standing by its global fashion editor at large, in an Instagram post on Tuesday: “Vogue stands with Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, our global fashion editor at large and longtime contributor. She was personally targeted and bullied. It is unacceptable. Now more than ever, voices like hers are needed and in a private meeting with Ye today she once again spoke her truth in a way she felt best, on her terms.”

On Tuesday night, West again took to Instagram claiming that he's met with the editor for a discussion about their disagreements and called her his “sister”. 

“Gabby is my sister. I’m not letting people got to bed thinking I didn’t meet with Gabrielle at 5 PM today for 2 hours then we went to dinner at Ferdie,” he wrote. "She Disagreed I Disagreed We Disagreed," he concluded. “At least we both love Ferdie and Fashion." 

But Karefa-Johnson is not the only person who was offended by Kanye’s latest collection. In fact, Jaden Smith walked out of the show, and later tweeted, “I don’t care who it is, if I don’t feel the message, I’m out”. 

The Yeezy Season 9 event was his fourth fashion show hosted in Paris since his launch as a designer in 2011.