Kanye West: "Fashion Is Something That's in My Heart to Do—in My Spirit"

Kanye West talks about feeling accepted in the fashion industry.

kanye

Image via Paper

kanye

Kanye West is on the new issue of Paper magazine and even penned his own cover story. Yup. 

In the piece, Kanye talks about working at the Gap when he was 15 years old, and admitting that "I don't think I had any desire to actually make clothes, but I always felt like that's what I wanted to be around." Which, to be honest, is a little surprising given his recent interest in becoming the creative director at Gap

He also talked about feeling more accepted in the fashion industry, specifically touching on his adidas "Yeezy Season 1" collection and its debut at New York Fashion Week. "It's beautiful when you can connect a purpose to things that you've spent a lot of time on," he said. "I feel very positive about the future. People are starting to recognize and just give me a chance to be looked at, respected and a part of the conversation. I really appreciate that my collection at New York Fashion Week was accepted positively. The moment that I saw Alber Elbaz, he patted me on the back and said, 'Keep going.' It's important to believe and it's equally important to pay your dues."

And for the record, Kanye does consider himself a "fashion insider." He says he thinks he's paid his dues, dialing back to when he sold his first piece of clothing or sneakers and sitting down with Riccardo Tisci, who suggested he wear the Givenchy leather kilt he rocked during the "Watch the Throne" tour. "I paid my dues when I had to wear a kilt in Chicago, and friends would say, 'What's your boy got on?'," he wrote. "But there are warriors that have killed people in kilts in the past. Who gets to decide what's hard and what's not hard? When I saw this kilt, I liked it. I was into it. It looked fresh to me. I felt creative; I didn't feel limited by some perception."

To sum things up, Kanye said his "goal isn't to 'break through the fashion world;' my goal is to make usable sculpture. My goal is to paint. My goal is to be as close to a five-year-old, or a four-year-old, or a three-year-old, as possible."

And that he's devoted to fashion, saying that it's "something that's in my heart to do—in my spirit. There's no world that can stop me from what I love. Not the rap world, not the fashion world, not the real world."

Read the entire story here

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