After a long hiatus, Kanye’s been driving the content train at a rapid pace these last few months. He’s released his own album, Ye, another with Kid Cudi, Kids See Ghosts, and is about to drop a new one with Nas. He threw a party at a ranch in Wyoming and subsequently got banned from a ranch in Wyoming. On Twitter, he’s cut his teeth as a pseudo-philosopher (“strive for universal consciousness not segregated consciousness”), a mentor for young creatives (“You have to protect your ability to create at all costs”), and a pro-Trump, potential 2024 candidate. He’s also contended that slavery was a choice.
Now he’s released his latest Yeezy campaign, shot by longtime collaborator Eli Russell Linnetz, and promoting his new Super Moon Yellow Desert Rat Yeezy sneakers. The campaign’s peppered with influencers like the Clermont twins, Kourtney Kardashian lookalike Merk Twain and lip mask creator Kristen Noel Crawley. To accompany the trainers, there are bike shorts, baggy hoodies, and a topless adult film actress who bears more than a passing resemblance to the musician-turned-designer’s wife, Kim.
But what does it all mean?
Perhaps Kanye just wanted to show off the shoes unadorned, with no distracting things like, say, clothes getting in the way. Or maybe it’s a commentary on society’s obsession with the Kardashians, and the lengths we’ll go to look like them. After all, they’re largely credited as a major influence in the recent proliferation of plastic surgery (a WWD article notes an “explosion” in demand for noninvasive surgery like botox and lip fillers, and quotes surgeon Dr. Jean-Louis Sebagh as saying, “They [patients] want the bum of Kim Kardashian, the lips of Kylie [Jenner] — it’s like a puzzle. It becomes a bit crazy.”).
Then again, maybe Kanye’s just cottoned on to marketing 101: sex sells. See for yourself below.