Kanye West has been revealed as one of the cover stars of W magazines latest "Royals" issue. The issue is dedicated to highlighting the creativity and greatness achieved by those they consider to be modern day royalty. The magazine caught up with Kanye in June for an interview, where he discusses Yeezy and wanting to be respected in the fashion world.
On his collaboration with A.P.C.: "I remember I did this collection with A.P.C., with [founder] Jean Touitou, and there were people who came to see it and said, 'I thought you were going to have a bunch of graphics on your stuff' and and they just try to pinpoint what they expect from you as a musician and they almost come over to look more as a joke than to take it seriously."
On building up Yeezy: "Think of how it is now – [Yeezy] is one of the leading trendsetting brands now; like top four trendsetting brands. And, and that's with little to no support on the apparel side. Meaning, I went and did a deal with Adidas and I basically still had to do the apparel in L.A. and build my own atelier and get consultants and build a team and then so…I don't know, have you ever seen, Wreck-It Ralph?"
On being written off in fashion: "I refuse people who write me off as some rich kid taking a hobby, fashion as a fucking hobby or a fashion plate. How could you even dare to think that, that you're on the same level of this, blah, blah, blah? And the entire time, no one, um – very few people even knew that I have a fucking Ph.D. in art, you know? And not that that would even make the difference, but me saying that makes the difference to the exact people I'm talking to it's, like, shut the fuck up. I will fucking laser you with alien fucking eyes and explode your fucking head. Shut the fuck up – try to write a rap. Okay then. I made this fucking T-shirt, now shut up. And it cost me everything I had and I gave everything I had."
On being misunderstood in the fashion industry: "To this date they do not understand who I am. They will not understand until after I'm gone. I am misunderstood and there is no one in fashion that's on my side. Because if that's the case, then take me and say, 'Here's your 80 people that work for you and here's a straight up, honest deal for it.' You don't have to sign your soul away in order to. I don't feel like."
On his heros: "I'm like, I'm inspired by Walt Disney. I'm inspired by Howard Hughes. I'm inspired by Henry Ford. I'm inspired by Steve Jobs. I mean, I'm inspired by James Perse. I'm inspired by Calvin, I'm inspired by Ralph [Lauren], I'm inspired by Bernard Arnault. He's like one of my absolute favorites. But as far as what I'm going to do? It's like you – people see it and they don't want to say it out loud. It's like once you listen to the eighth Drake song in a row on the radio do you basically say he owns 80 percent of the radio? So when, when I sell 40,000 sneakers in one minute, does anyone raise their hand and say, 'Hmm, maybe he can actually design something.'"
To read the entire interview head over to W.
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