The rest of the fashion world may be talking about “a clear call for change” (in the words of the Boston Consulting Group study
commissioned by the Council of Fashion Designers of America) and the “danger of designer creative burnout” and the need to slow
things down (after a month of shows, doesn’t less seem like more?) and so on and so forth. But that industry disrupter/tweet
stormer/creative megalith otherwise known as Kanye West has a different idea about how the future of fashion, or at least his fashion
future, may look.
Over the weekend, he took to Twitter, as is his wont, to reveal his plan: “No more fashion calendar… I’m going Mad Max… 6
collections a year…3 albums a year,” he wrote. Six collections!
It’s not entirely clear how that might look, since Mr. West’s thoughts then took a different direction, but chances are that there will
probably be “homeless sweaters” involved. “I believe in my ripped homeless sweaters!!!” he posted earlier. (In case you were
wondering, a “homeless sweater” is the knit equivalent of distressed jeans: stretched-out and with some judiciously placed holes.
Kendall Jenner wore Mr. West’s version to his New York Fashion Week show last month.)
And Mr. West never paid much attention to the fashion calendar in the first place, scheduling his show during fashion week without
going through the CFDA, and often conflicting with other designers, much to their chagrin.
Of course, six collections is not as radical and “Mad Max”-like as it might sound. At the moment, six collections a year is pretty much
par for the course at couture houses such as Chanel, Dior and Valentino. Officially, that is, and for women’s wear: two couture, two
runway, two pre-collections. Some brands also have men’s wear, Chanel has the métiers d’art, and then there’s the occasional special
one-off, so they probably do more than six a year. When John Galliano had his implosion at Dior, it was said he was working on
something along the lines of 16 collections a year, as he was also designing for his own line, which included women’s and men’s wear.
Then there are mass brands like H&M and Zara, which seem to drop a collection a month.
Still, given that Mr. West’s last fashion reveal was in February, his statement would mean we are in for another collection from him
around April, so we’ll find out then what shape this is all taking. Mr. West’s fans certainly seemed psyched about the idea, since, as of
Monday morning, his tweet had gotten 60,000 likes.
Kanye West at his Yeezy Season 3 event during New York Fashion Week.Credit…Andrew Kelly/Reuters