What does the pope have to do with Yeezy's show

The YZYSZN9 fashion show held yesterday in Paris was as polarizing as only Kanye West can be. But aside from an opening monologue full of Pindaric flights, a chorus of children probably from Donda Academy including North and Chicago, and a plethora of celebrities disguised under layers of clothes and silicone headphones to simulate baldness, the real scandal was the shirt worn by Kanye at the event. A simple black T-shirt paired with a pair of strictly socked Burberry flip-flops, on the front the big face of Pope John Paul II, on the back the words "White Lives Matter," classified by the Anti-Defamation League as a "hate slogan" and a symbol used by white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Renaissance Society.

photo by Aymane Alhamid

Candice Owens, conservative activist and founder of BLEXIT wore the same T-shirt in a white version and with the same message on the back. But beyond Ye's motives for spreading such a slogan and a fondness for controversial phrases that go back to the days of the Trump campaign, another interesting fact is Ye's interpretation of a rather rampant trend in the past few catwalks: church core. Not only worn by Ye and Owens, but T-shirts featuring Pope Wojtyla have also paraded down the catwalk, evoking all the tacky chic appeal of the Jubilee merch of the 2000s, one of the most important events for Catholics around the world. T-shirts are reminiscent of the gadgets you can buy at any rock band's concerts - shoddy graphics and loud fonts - found on Vinted, Etsy and Ebay along with original envelopes, stamps, scarves, coins, and all those items that have increased the cult for the Popes over the years, elevating them to the status of true pop stars.

It's hard to say whether the shirt seen era in Paris will ever see the light of day, as will the entire collection, but West's gesture of wearing it during an event seen by hundreds of thousands of people had the consequences everyone would have expected. On TikTok, there are plenty of videos criticizing West in which many fans also say they are exhausted by the provocative attitude of the rapper who meanwhile threw gasoline on the fire by writing in Instagram Stories "Everyone knows that black lives matter was a scam" adding an additional layer of absurdity to what went on yesterday. If, however, you simply want to take home a commemorative Jubilee shirt to carry on your Church Core - or good altar boy - spirit, you can take a trip to eBay to find what's right for you.