All part of the plan. Kanye West’s Yeezy collaborator Vanessa Beecroft revealed that the “Famous” rapper, 39, intentionally made attendees wait two hours for his Wednesday, September 7, fashion show to begin.
“Everyone was in a state of meditation . . . The long wait before,” the quirky performance artist, 47, told Page Six in an interview published on Thursday, September 8. “I believe it was planned because [West] wanted the audience to get into this state of having to observe and having to stay.”
As previously reported, West’s Yeezy Season 4 debut, held on New York City’s Roosevelt Island, started (unfashionably) late, infuriating several showgoers and notable names in the industry. Among those who criticized the designer for stalling his show was Women’s Wear Daily editor Jessica Iredale. Hours after attending the presentation, she penned a scathing review.
“To a great extent, fashion and the press have only ourselves to blame. We’ve been world-class enablers of Kanye West, allowing him to put us at his mercy,” she wrote. “… Round-trip, the event clocked in at about four-and-a-half hours. This is behavior that would not be tolerated from true design visionaries — Karl Lagerfeld or West’s friend Riccardo Tisci. Not that they would display such audacious disrespect for people’s time.”
Aside from the hip-hop star’s indifference about taking people’s time, his latest Yeezy display made waves after several models fainted and, as seen in now-viral videos, had trouble walking in sky-high heels from the collection.
While many assumed that the models were exhausted and dehydrated from the late-summer heat, Beecroft told Page Six that they were simply “overwhelmed” by the experience of working for Ye.
“That’s a production issue not related to me . . . I’m not sure why some people fainted yesterday, but in my case, when it has happened in my performances, it was the level of emotional stress,” she reasoned. “. . . It wasn’t physical. There was food and water. The situation is so intense and people are looking at you and you are standing.”
Beecroft added: “Yesterday, I don’t know if it was because they were overwhelmed. I’m not sure . . . I was bothered yesterday in a sense that I’m sorry for what’s happening, but at the same time, I wouldn’t know how to prevent it if it was emotional.”
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