It All Falls Down

Kanye West’s Yeezy Season 5 Show Is Already Causing Problems [Updated]

West is reportedly cooperating after he annoyed the C.F.D.A.
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By Theo Wargo/Getty Images.

Update (February 3, 2017, 8:00 A.M.): According to W.W.D. (via the Cut), Kanye West has rescheduled his Yeezy Season 5 runway show to avoid any conflicts on the official C.F.D.A. Fashion Week calendar. He will now be showing at three P.M. instead of five P.M. on February 15. C.F.D.A. president and C.E.O. Steven Kolb told W.W.D. in a statement, “Kanye called me personally to let me know that he had no intention of showing on top of another designer, and was unaware that there was a conflict.”

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Per a report Wednesday in W.W.D., Kanye West will be back at New York Fashion Week to present his Yeezy Season 5 collection, much to the annoyance of the C.F.D.A., the governing council of Fashion Week. Fashionista confirmed Tuesday that West will be showing his latest collection on February 15 at five P.M. at Pier 59 Studios, the same time as Marchesa, which was confirmed in the time slot prior to West’s announcement.

President and C.E.O. of the C.F.D.A., Steven Kolb, told W.W.D. that West’s going rogue comes with consequences:

“Once again, C.F.D.A. was not approached or consulted about the possibility of Kanye West showing on the official New York Fashion Week schedule. As the scheduler of the week, the C.F.D.A. works with more than 300 brands to identify appropriate times for them to show their collections and avoid scheduling conflicts. Not going through the proper channels is disruptive to the whole week and unfair to designers who have secured spots through the formal procedure. This bad behavior is not acceptable to the C.F.D.A. and should not be tolerated by the industry. Because of this, the C.F.D.A. will not list Kanye West on the official schedule. However, the C.F.D.A. is more than willing to work with Kanye on securing an available time slot.”

Prior to the Yeezy Season 5 show’s confirmation Tuesday, many in the industry were unsure if West would be showing at all. His show on Roosevelt Island in September was universally panned. W.W.D. wrote at the time, “[G]iven the extenuating circumstances [aggressively disorganized security and front-of-house staff; a near two-hour wait for it to start; a long commute to the venue], [the show] felt crude and curdled, with twisted titillation delivered in the form of cringe-worthy mishaps.”

The New York Times called the collection uninspired, with Vanessa Friedman noting, “It’s not that they were terrible. They weren’t original or risky enough to be terrible. They were just boring. Not ambitious or eclectic or even surprising. Yawn.”

The Cut noted that many models fainted in the heat. “[West and frequent collaborator Vanessa Beecroft] just didn’t think much about what might happen if young women were forced to stand in the hot sun for a long time, and didn’t have a team that was able to act in an empathetic way when they became unwell.”

West also has dealt with a variety of personal issues since his last fashion presentation. After behaving erratically onstage and canceling the remainder of his Saint Pablo tour last fall, West was hospitalized and reportedly placed on a psychiatric hold in November, canceling the 21 remaining concert dates on his tour. After being released, West was photographed with newly bleached hair while visiting Trump Tower to meet with then–President Elect Donald Trump.

History has shown that a lot can change in a short period of time when Kanye West is involved. Only he knows what the world should expect from Yeezy Season 5, and the fashion industry is girding its loins.

Vanity Fair has reached out to West’s team and Pier 59 for comment. When reached, a spokesperson for the C.F.D.A. had no further comment. A spokesperson for Marchesa also declined to comment.