A History of Highlights From Kanye West's Best Fashion "Rants"

Looking back at Yeezy's most memorable tirades about fashion.

Not Available Lead
Image via Complex Original
Not Available Lead

Kanye West has never been one to hold back. On his recent media circuit and "Yeezus Tour," the rapper has been going on "rants," as people are calling them, touching on culture, film, art, literature, and fashion. To be clear, though, they aren't really rants; they're more stream-of-thought monologues or long-form diatribes. No matter what you call them, they've at least offered a deeper level thought than the the inoffensive and safe statements we normally hear from celebs. 

These monologues have sort of become expected of West—people are now on edge waiting to hear what he'll say in his next interview or performance. This weekend, on the eve of West playing two shows at Madison Square Garden in NYC, we expect nothing less. 

Before it all goes down though, this is a look back at all the glorious things West has said about working in fashion, launching his clothing line, Hedi Slimane, bringing leather jogging pants to Fendi six years ago, and so much more. We've chosen some of the best quotes from those and put together A History of Highlights From Kanye West's Best Fashion "Rants." 

RELATED: A Ranking of Kanye's Understudies' Style Transformations

RELATED: How Kanye West Would Dress if He Lived in Different Neighborhoods of Brooklyn

Twitter

Not Available Interstitial

Date: May 5, 2012

On things men wear that he hates: 

"The New York Times"

Not Available Interstitial

"W Magazine"

Not Available Interstitial

Pusha T listening party

Not Available Interstitial

Pusha T's album listening party in NYC

Date: September 11, 2013

On people copying Pusha T's style: 
"For all the niggas trying to do their camo prints at Magic, that's motherfuckin' Pusha T. All the niggas trying to extend their motherfuckin' T-shirts, trying to throw numbers on the backs of their shit, that's motherfuckin' Pusha T. 'I have a T-shirt line, I got numbers on the back of my shit.' Fuck you!"

Zane Lowe

Not Available Interstitial

BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe interview

Date: September 23, 2013

On the South Park photo and popularizing Givenchy: 
"Do you remember our South Park photo? Remember how funny that was? Do you think there'd be a Givenchy in the hood if it wasn't for that South Park photo? But no one thinks of that. No one thinks of the names I got called for wearing tight jeans."

On bringing the leather jogging pants to Fendi six years ago: 
"I brought 10 years of product that has added to humanity. And now, where's the culture at?! So then I scream and I'm sitting in the middle of it. Whether I'm at a dinner with Anna Wintour, or I'm at a listening session with Pusha, or me and Virgil are in Rome giving designs to Fendi over and over and getting our designs knocked down. We brought the leather jogging pants six years ago to Fendi, and they said, 'No.' How many motherfuckers you done seen with a jogging pant?"

On why guys shouldn't wear flip-flops: 
"Shoes. You put on shoes everyday. You walkin' down the street with no shoes, somebody might think there's something wrong with you. You walkin' down the street with no headphones, it's like, 'Oh what's up? No headphones today? Cool!' No shoes? 'Look, man. What's going on? You having problems with the family?' Socks, at least. Sandals. Flip-flops. Sandals with socks. Keep it gangster. No flip-flops for black dudes. I don't care where you at. No flip-flops on black dudes. Wear some hot-ass Jordans on the beach."

On being a slave to fashion: 
"You can have on a Zara pant, right? And a girl walks in with the Celine version, and you feel like shit. That is the problem. I'm talkin' about us, the new slaves, the people who love fashion. I'm talking about us, you know? 'Cause I'm a slave to it. I love it. I love it! I loved it since age five, when my mama brought me to a discount fur spot. She asked me what I like, and everything I liked was too expensive for us."

On designing men's shoes: 
"I've got a very particular, specific take on men's footwear. No one can say I cannot design or understand how to design a guy's sneaker. When I was in fourth grade I was drawing Jordans when my mama couldn't afford them. I was drawing those Jordans. Getting kicked out of class for drawing them."

On Hedi Slimane and Saint Laurent Paris: 
"So when I see Hedi Slimane, and it's all like, 'Okay this is my take on the world.' Yeah, he got some nice $5,000 jeans in there. It's some nice ones here and there, some good shit here and there. But we culture. Rap the new rock 'n roll. We culture. Rap is the new rock 'n roll. We the rockstars. It's been like that for a minute, Hedi Slimane! It's been like that for a minute. We the real rockstars, and I'm the biggest of all of them. I'm the number one rockstar on the planet."

Jimmy Kimmel

Not Available Interstitial

"Jimmy Kimmel Live" interview

Date: October 9, 2013

On how his difficult experience in fashion compares to Michael Jackson: 
"When I'm in Paris and I'm sitting at Fashion Week for nine years, and South Park makes fun of our outfits, or people don't understand why we're there. I'm getting called names you can't even say on TV. And I still can't break that wall down. At a certain point it's like Michael Jackson trying to get his videos on because how many people, I mean who do you know more for clothes than me?"

97.1 AMP Radio interview

Not Available Interstitial

Power 106's Big Boy Neighborhood

Not Available Interstitial

Date: October 28, 2013

On why he won't work with Louis Vuitton ever again: 
"If I had the opportunity to design for Louis Vuitton now, I wouldn't. Because the prices [are] just too extreme. And I don't want to use my message to have kids saving up that much, you know, to be part of what the ideas are. You know, that's the problem to me with luxury. I don't agree with everything that H&M and Zara does, but one thing that's good is they were able to break that idea that creativity and things you want have to cost, like, a million dollars."

Yeezus Tour

Not Available Interstitial

"Yeezus Tour" in Las Vegas

Date: October 25, 2013

On racism in fashion: 
"They didn’t let us in the fashion shows. That’s what you don’t realize. We were in there like…just like my momma was when she was 6 years old getting arrested at the sit-ins. My momma was raised in the era when clean water was only served to the fairer skin. Doing clothes you would’ve thought I had help, but they wasn’t satisfied unless I picked the cotton myself. You see there’s broke-nigga racism, that’s that 'don’t touch anything in the store.' Excuse me, that’s that 'Can I help you, sir?' That’s that racial profiling in parties and shit, talking about 'Did you steal that?' and it’s that rich nigga racism that come in come in please buy more. Bring the fur coats, bring the boats. Please buy more. I know you just got some money and you can’t wait to spend it nigga."

Bret Easton Ellis Podcast

Not Available Interstitial

Yeezus Tour Barclays

Not Available Interstitial

"Yeezus Tour" at Barclays Center

Date: November 20, 2013

On Nike CEO Mark Parker:
"They let me sip that clean water when they let me make them Yeezys, and they saw how the universe reacted. They tried to make it as small as possible. Mark Parker even talked shit, talking 'bout he don't even know why people like the Yeezys. They liked them like they liked the Jordans because I was in fourth grade getting kicked out for drawing Jordans, for being connected to that emotion as a creative."

Yeezus Tour in Washington, DC

Not Available Interstitial

"Yeezus Tour" in Washington, DC

Date: November 21, 2013

On Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Nike CEO Mark Parker: 
"So I'm going to explain to you Mark Parker tonight why you need to get on the phone with Kanye West. And I'm going to explain to Louis Vuitton why you need to take a meeting with Kanye West. And I'm going to explain to the head of Gucci tonight why you need to take a meeting with Kanye West. So don't ever let them tell you I'm crazy because I'm smarter than all of them." 

Latest in Style