Defending his work. Kanye West clapped back at critics who questioned his decision to display his Yeezy Gap collection in trash bags.
“I’m an innovator, and I’m not here to sit up and apologize about my ideas,” the rapper, 45, said during a Thursday, August 18, interview with Fox & Friends. “That’s exactly what the media tries to do. Make us apologize for any idea that doesn’t fall under exactly the way they want us to think.”
The “Famous” musician also took issue with the term “trash bags,” telling Fox News’ Eric Shawn that the containers are actually construction bags. “This is not a joke, this is not a game, this is not just some celebrity collaboration,” the Chicago native continued. “This is my life. I’m fighting for a position to be able to change clothing and bring the best design to the people.”
The unusual Yeezy Gap display made headlines earlier this week when a social media user shared a photo that showed the clothing stacked haphazardly in what appeared to be waste bins. “The sales associate said Ye got mad when he saw they had it on the hangers and this is how he wanted it,” the Twitter user alleged. “They won’t help you find ur [sic] size too, you just have to dig through everything.”
The tweet quickly went viral, with other potential customers weighing in to express their disappointment with the display. “I walked in just to look around and saw these, thought it was a mistake,” one shopper wrote via Twitter. “For funsies I asked about pricing … the tees were $120, and the hoodies were $240, wild.”
In a since-deleted Instagram post shared earlier this month, the Grammy winner said that “the biggest inspiration for all design” is “the children” and “the homeless.” The Donda founder echoed these sentiments in his interview with Fox, claiming that he wants his Yeezy Gap clothes to be utilitarian and easily accessible to customers.
West teamed up with Balenciaga creative director Demna for his Gap collaboration, which includes hoodies, T-shirts, tank tops, leggings and denim in a range of shades.
The collection dropped online in February and May, but customers could only buy the clothes in stores beginning in July at Gap’s New York City outlet in Times Square. According to a press release, the pop-up was “reengineered and distilled to its most essential form in Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga’s vision of utilitarian design.”
