On an unseasonably sweltering afternoon last September, Kanye West presented his Yeezy Season 4 show on Roosevelt Island. Some of its elements were predictable: Vanessa Beecroft’s staging, utilitarian-inspired casual garments, and a super-diverse cast. Other aspects — models fainting from heat exhaustion, malfunctioning shoes, and the fact that editors were more or less held hostage for hours — were unpredictable, to say the least. So we didn’t know what to expect from West’s Season 5 outing this afternoon in New York. Fortunately, it was indoors (at Pier 59) and didn’t run as wildly late. Here’s a quick hit list of what else you need to know about West’s anticipated return to the runway.
— Yeezy Mafia (@theyeezymafia) February 15, 2017
The clothing was inspired by Calabasas, California: That much was sort of a given, as the SoCal suburb where Kardashian HQ is located has long served as an inspiration for West’s utilitarian athleisure line of baggy basics. Earlier in the week, editors received invitations with a zine featuring Season Four pieces photographed by Jackie Nickerson, as well as a crew neck sweatshirt printed with “Mullholland” or “Lost Hills” on it. Both refer to Cali locations, and signaled more Golden State shoutouts to come. Agoura Hills’s zipcode was also printed on separates. The track pants Kim K teased on Snapchat earlier this year appeared on the runway in an orange and scarlet colorway. It’s possible these pieces are part of a rumored new West line, titled — guess what — Adidas Calabasas.
The show was mostly holograms: Before West’s models took a quick runway walk at the end of the show, images of his cast were projected onto an enormous, black, curtain-ish screen at the catwalk’s center. They mostly wore denim (new turf for team Yeezy). The techiness of the projection gave the impression of a hologram, which would not be outside the realm of possibility for West. The rapper has long incorporated emergent technologies into his work, from his recently developed floating stage to basically his entire Glow in the Dark tour aesthetic.
The soundtrack was a 10-year-old R&B cut: Though many anticipated West would take the opportunity to debut his much-rumored collaboration with Drake, he actually used a J.Holiday track from 2007 to score the show. The song in question, “Bed,” was co-written by The-Dream, who has worked with West on numerous occasions (most recently, The Life of Pablo‘s opening track “Ultra Light Beam”; most memorably, the hook for “All of the Lights). According to New York Times critic Jon Caramanica, the track was given a “trap-dub” update for today’s outing — apparently, it’s Dream’s demo version. Though there has been some chatter about a party for the zine drop, Drake is presently on tour in the UK, so it’s looking more unlikely he’ll link up with West at, as he once rapped, “4 PM in Calabasas.”
There were new sneaker styles: Though fresh Drake tunes didn’t surface, some new sneaks did. One is called “The Runner,” which is much more colorful, and thicker-soled, than West’s previous designs. He debuted the kicks in a few different versions, including all-black, white and teal, and multicolored with yellow laces. They look very much like the sneakers West wasspotted sporting in January while made to evacuate his office, and according to Yeezy Mafia, will likely hit the market in 2018.
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Text Emily Manning