Kanye Debuts Women's Clothing Line at Paris Fashion Week



Photo by Pascal Le Segretain for GETTY Images

The hip hop swaggu himself, Kanye West, dropped a clothing line for women -- DW by Kanye West-- named after his late mother, Donda West.

West has asked critics to take it easy on his runway debut, which was attended by fashion heavyweights Anna Wintour and celebs Ciara and Mark Kate and Ashley Olsen, among others. So far, DW has been met with mixed reviews.


DW on the runway -- Photo by Giovanni Giannoni on WWD.com

AP called DW "sophisticated" and Women's Wear Daily dubbed DW "neither triumph nor train wreck" and "high-end streetwear." I guess that's a compliment? No word where DW will be sold, but finally a hip hop-inspired, couture line for women! I can't wait to see it.

The buzz on Paris runways was a bit more receptive, with the Spring 2012 collection featuring edgy and sophisticated bold cut outs and lots of my favorite material -- leather -- as well as lush fur stoles and collars (PETA, it ain't)!

The hip hop inspiration was evident on the runway: models donned gold nameplate necklaces, rocked giant fur backpacks, and sizzled in bare back designs and belly button plunging necklines.  The Paris debut featured about two dozen pieces -- dresses, pants, jackets and such.

Really, did you expect anything less from Ye? Surely, you know that nothing he produces will every be boring.

West is such a risk taker when it comes to fashion that you know his thumbprint is all on his line and you know it will be H-O-T! Say what you want about Kanye, but he goes out of his way to do the most with everything he does.

What's clear is that Kanye was involved in every step of the process, from picking fabrics to hiring designers, to make his vision come to life. This is a game changer. It will be interesting to see who rocks DW, and I can't wait to see the rest of his collection. Kanye is known for mixing it up -- after all, he's been known to wear red skinny jeans, colorful women's shirts and just about anything else.

Photo by Giovani Giannoni

Usually, when hip hop artists launch a clothing line, it's usually like, *yawn* um ... OK. What hip hop artist doesn't have or used to have, a clothing line?  Unless you are Sean Combs or Russell Simmons or Jay Z/Damon Dash, no hip hop clothing line has been uber successful.

Besides Kimora Lee Simmons' Baby Phat spin off following her ex-husband's sale of Phat Farm, Combs is one of the few rappers still in the game -- and doing well, mind you. I get so tired of hip hop artists launching little more than denim, hoodies and T-shirts and just slapping their name on a line of clothing -- with no or very little creative direction -- and then claiming they have a "collection."

You'd have to be blind not to see through that, and that's why many of the lines fizzle and fade out so quickly. (Remember G-Unit's clothing line, Em's line or even P. Miller clothing)? It's well known that hip hop fashion tastes change overnight. Young hip hop heads have fashion ADD and don't stay focused on a particular line for more than 5 minutes at a time and are then are quickly on to the next one.

And, it will also be interesting to see which of West's hip hop brethren follows in his footsteps.

Really, now, most hip hop heads older than 25 have grown up. We've outgrown denim that hangs off your ass. We want grown up clothing with some modified hip hop swagg that's still edgy, raw AND professional.

You know, that we can rock during our grown up 9-to-5s.

What do you think of DW by Kanye West? Hot or Not?