The Most Stylish #KanyeMoments From His Mother Donda West's 2007 Book

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Chapter: 3

Quote: "Once again, we did our unconventional thing. I wouldn't wear maternity clothes because back then you couldn't find anything stylish. I wanted to be fashionable and cute. No baggy, untailored, matronly-looking ensembles for me. So I would wear my jeans and put a hole on the other side and tie a string from the buttonhole to the hole I created, loosening the string as my stomach grew. I wore loose, stylish shirts to cover my stomach as the months progressed. I knew I was having a boy. Ray said he wanted a girl."

Chapter: 7

Quote: "There weren't many things that I denied Kanye. But there was one thing that I could not compromise on—his safety. He hates for me to tell this story, but I didn't allow him to ride the L train in Chicago. There were L stops all along the South Side of Chicago where we lived. I'd taken that train myself several times and caught it right at Ninety-fifth and State streets. Sometimes I'd catch it at Seventy-Ninth Street. But no matter where it stopped, I just wasn't comfortable with Kanye being on it when he was young. The neighborhoods weren't that bad to me, at least not on the surface. But dangerous things happened at those L stations and even right on the train. But I wouldn't let him ride them. People were getting killed over Starter jackets and gym shoes. The murder rate and gang activity in Chicago was no joke. We're not talking an isolated incident here. Not by a long shot. And I wasn't going to risk anyone taking Kanye's Air Jordans or his Starter jacket or worse yet, his life. Life itself was not sacred on the L. I preferred to drop him off and pick him up if need be. Otherwise, he didn't need to be there."

Chapter: 9

Quote: "You have to speak things into creation. That very next year, Kanye West opened for Usher at Madison Square Garden. He performed a full forty-five minute set—on the same stage from which he was shunned. That next year, Kanye West had a record deal. Roc-A-Fella signed him, giving Kanye a $150,000 advance. He needed every penny. He used a hundred thousand to get out of the management deal he had and then had to pay the attorney, Londell McMillan, who got him out of it (he's the same attorney who got Prince out of his deal with Warner). With what was left over, I think he bought himself a watch from Jacob the Jeweler in Manhattan and bought a Mercedes SUV. He also bought me a Rolex for Christmas."

Chapter: 14

Quote: "I don't know how many times I said it. 'Kanye, pull up chose pants!' It must have been a thousand. I finally gave up. He would say, 'But, mom, it's the style.'

I don't know how the pants didn't end up around the ankles. It was a physics marvel how they would hang just low enough to still stay on. All the kids were dressing like that. I wondered what would happen if they were chased and had to break out into a run. But if you were cool, that's the way you wore your pants. And Kanye was no exception. At least not at first.

I just couldn't understand this latest trend. It seemed ridiculous. And Kanye had all kinds of excuses for why the low pants were necessary. 'I have a big butt, Mom,' he'd say. 'I have to wear my pants low like this so it won't look so big.'

But the day did come, thank goodness, that Kanye decided to have his own style. He stopped wearing his pants low and he stopped wearing those XXXL shirts that swallowed him."

Chapter: 14

Quote: "I bought all of Kanye's clothes until he got into the fourth grade. And he didn't seem to mind. When I look back at some of the pictures of him in those early days, it's apparent that both of us were thinking about something other than fashion. Still, I thought he looked pretty cute in the clothes I bought for him. I especially liked the little Miami Dolphins letter-man jacket I'd gotten him when he was two. He looked good in pastel colors even then. They were pastel, but still rich and didn't look feminine at all. That Dolphin turquoise blue and orange really popped on Kanye. I'd have him in that jacket all the time. It looked good with his blue jeans and Hush Puppies.  

I dragged Kanye with me a couple of times and he hated it. It didn't matter, though—not when he was a little kid. I was the one forking over the dough on a teacher's salary. And at five, six, and seven years old, who cared if the clothes came from Macy's or Second Time Around? After he got bigger and headed into those preteen years, any shopping I did at thrift stores was for me only. Being a typical kid, Kanye wanted his clothes to be new, and he wanted name brands. I'll never forget the day he was ducking around the aisles in Payless because he thought someone might see him."

Chapter: 14

Quote: "I guess I was partly to blame for his name-brand jones. I bought him his first pair of Air Jordans when he was ten. What boy didn't love Michael Jordan then? And to have a pair of those sixty-five-dollar Jordans was something special. I'd gotten them in Hyde Park at a shoe store that specialized in shoes for kids. They had all the latest styles and brands— PF Flyers, Keds, Converse, you name it. But nothing could compare to the Air Jordans. Nothing."

Chapter: 14

Quote: "Kanye had wanted to be a fashion designer in fourth grade. But he still focused on drawing and writing raps. By the time Kanye was eleven or twelve, however, he'd become totally conscientious about how he dressed. That was when he first started doing his own laundry. One day he wanted to wear this particular outfit and it hadn't been washed. He was unhappy and I was not feeling it. I had a lot to do on a daily basis. I couldn't squeeze into my busy schedule making sure Kanye had a particular outfit clean on a particular day. He had clean clothes—even if it wasn't exactly what he wanted to wear. Now that he had become Mr. Style Guru, everything had to go his way? I didn't think so. I remember clearly the day I told Kanye that if he wanted to have it like that, he needed to do his own laundry. That day, he started doing it, and he did it from then on. He became pretty good at washing and ironing his clothes. His grandfather, Buddy, even taught him how to iron his shirt collars and how to tie a tie."

Chapter: 14

Quote: "I had given Kanye two hundred dollars for back-to-school clothes one summer and he came back with one pair of jeans and two shirts. I was outdone! He was in the eighth grade. With two hundred dollars I could have bought at least four pair of pants and four shirts, some matching socks, and maybe even a pair of shoes. But he came back with one pair of jeans and two shirts and thought that was okay. We typically shopped at Marshall's where you could get designer brands at discount prices. Kanye surely didn't shop at Marshall's that day.

I was so mad, I refused to give him any more money, not that there was any more to give. He was content, though, with those few pieces he bought. He was happier with those jeans and two shirts than he would have been with four times as much. That's when I knew he valued quality over quantity. And while I wasn't happy with him not getting more for the money I had given him, I begrudgingly respected his choice."

Chapter: 14

Quote: "Initially, Kanye spent more time and had more interest in his art and music than he had in clothes. But once he discovered clothes, it was like a light went on inside of him and he poured the same kind of energy that he put into his art and music into putting outfits together and dressing well . It came without effort. When Kanye and his friends were preparing for a talent show or for some other event and they wanted 'a look,' Kanye would be the ringleader, in charge of deciding what that look would be.

At first, his style was to match. Everything had to match—black pants, black shirt, black jacket. That's what his group, Quadro Posse, wore when they won first place in the talent show at their school. The four of them did a dance routine and were all dressed alike—not identical—but alike in their black digs, right down to black shoes. The shoes had to be on point, too. That's one of Kanye's things. To this day, he is always telling me that the shoes complete an outfit. 'You can mess up a dope outfit with the shoes,' he'll say."

Chapter: 14

Quote: "Kanye became my stylist when he was fifteen. He'd critique whatever I was wearing whenever I had someplace to go. Sometimes he'd be kind. Other times, cruel. Once he even told me he'd give up his allowance if I'd go to Jenny Craig. I guess I was looking pretty fat in the dress I'd put on. I didn't get offended, though. I didn't even take it personally. And I did not go to Jenny Craig—not then, anyway."

Chapter: 14

Quote: "Lots of mothers have told me about the impact Kanye has had on their children when it comes to fashion. They say the baggy pants worn low are starting to be worn closer to the waist. The huge, oversized jerseys are taking a backseat to the Polo and the polo-style shirts. Ralph Lauren (and others with a similar style) have sold more Polo shirts in the 'hood than he ever would have had Kanye not made Polo a house- hold word. It's a new day in hip-hop—not just with beats that are more musical and lyrics that are more conscious, but with fresh-to-death clothes, too."

Chapter: 14

Quote: "Now all eyes are on Kanye for his soon-to-be-launched clothing line: Pastelle. It's an upscale line for the highly discriminating and somewhat elite. It will sport nice colors (pastel shades, in fact), simple designs, and high quality. They are the kinds of clothes Kanye would wear and buy himself."

Chapter: 14

Quote: "One of the hardest things for me now is what to buy Kanye. He's very particular and knows what he wants. Christmas 2005, I was beside myself trying to think of what to buy him. What do you get your kid when he either has everything he wants or could certainly get it? It's not about the money. Kanye always tells me to buy him something small.

Small or not, I wanted it to be special, something he would really like. Just as I was about to give up thinking about it and run into Best Buy to get the old faithful gift card (Kanye's a music and movie junkie so I couldn't go wrong with the gift card), Don C. and I just happened to talk. I was standing in the Louis Vuitton store waiting on my purchase when Don told me that Kanye had been talking about the millionaire sunglasses that Louis made. Hardly anyone had them yet.

'I can get them!' said Donna, the very cool lady who usually helps us when we shop at Louis Vuitton in Beverly Hills. And help me she did. She had them flown in from France and I surprised Kanye that year with those glasses. I almost broke the bank to do it but his reaction when I handed him those millionaire glasses was worth it. I can definitely see Kanye with a sunglasses line. I don't know of anything Kanye is as passionate about as he is his music and visuals, unless it's his clothes."