Wow, infinte shouts to Julianne Escobedo Shepherd and Refinery 29 for the most epic Kanye West fashion infographic of all time. I LOVE infographics like this because they are roughly a thousand percent more convincing than the same information delivered in lame, boring paragraph form. This particular infographic in question charts Kanye West's influence on the world of world, from his very first album all the way up to current day. Sadly, there is no mention of the day I spent with him in his Manhattan apartment. I really think that had a profound impact on some of his style choices.
While I do think it's a bit of a stretch that Kanye West was the sole reason some of these trends popped up, to argue that he hasn't been incredibly influential is just straight wrongheaded. So, check out the full infographic over at Refinery 29 and then have some version of this conversation internally:
"Pshh, I didn't wear CdG because Yeezy did. PUH-LEASE, I was wearing CdG when that dude was just a weak ass version of a 'Lo-head."
The only thing I take issue with here? I really don't think that Kanye's foray into sneaker design coincided with the rise of sneaker culture. I think the more accurate statement is that Kanye has successfully identified and expounded upon a bunch of niche styles and presented them to a global audience. In that way, Kanye's forays into fashion mirror his early production jobs, sampling soul and other cuts, while making them just different enough to call his own. That's exactly what he did with the Air Yeezy's and his A.P.C. collaboration, arguably his two most successful design outings thus far. Regardless, if you're not psyched for Kanye West x Adidas after peeping this gem, you're probably reading the wrong website.
