Everything that went down at Kanye West YEEZY Season 8

Two years after the debut of Season 6 and after the minor break of the seventh one, both presented without a show, Kanye West is back in the fashion world presenting part of the Yeezy Season 8 during Paris Fashion Week Woman's FW20. From the first and unexpected announcement of his presence in Paris and the news that he would be holding a special Sunday Service at the Bouffes du Nord theatre, Ye's fanbase had split on what to expect for the show, amid speculation of a footwear-focused collection and the hopes of seeing West present something new after two years of silence. An absence, as Kanye himself had explained, due solely to his desire to create something new and meaningful, without wanting to rely solely on his name. 

In the eighteen looks presented during the event, West's desire for novelty and incisiveness was felt, with yet another reinterpretation of the iconography of fashion through some immediately recognizable pieces. Among them the puffer jackets, whose appearance was anticipated by Kanye himself over the last few months, and a series of hoodies characterized by a balaclava-like hood that leaves room only to the eyes. These, as well as other pieces, recall Wyoming's mountainous imagery, but contaminate rural and harsh-climate style with some ideas and lines that look like direct derivations of Season 5. As usual there has been great attention to the footwear department, with some boots already renamed Yeezy 1050 and a new version of the recent Slides, compared by Kanye to the famous 350 for the impact he believes will have in the fashion world. 

At the presentation, West also relaunched the talk on the importance of material research in his new pieces, which had already begun with the presentation of the Foam Runners. Even in Season 8 much of the wool used will come from the sheep of his estates but Kanye himself talks about how this accentuated experimentality is just the beginning:

“90 percent of this collection is muslin in its original fabric. We’ve been looking at how we can create a suede effect or how we can dye it. This is all experimental. Each one of the pieces here is in its infant stage. They’re all new inventions and new approaches to apparel. Now I’m looking at them and thinking where I can take them with their colors and forms.”.

Despite the presence of only female models (as already happened at the presentation of the Seaon 4) on the catwalk set up at Espace Niemeyer, home of the Communist Party French designed by Oscar Niemeyer, the pieces presented are still genderless, some of which have already been shown at last night's event and spotted wearing Kanye in recent days. In this regard, the next appointment with the men's show, which is rumoured to take place next June and which will precede the launch of the collection in the autumn, will be decisive. Having missed the appeal on this occasion several pieces seen in recent months, from hoodies to new combat boots in collaboration with adidas, there is a certain curiosity around the next Ye show. 

Despite all, though, the night's real winner is North West, who at just six years old performed on the catwalk, accompanying the models with a cover of ZaZa's "What I Do", once again proving to be the rightful heir to Kanye's empire. 

Photo credits: Laurent Bentil

Runway looks: Vogue