Thursday marks the first official day of New York Fashion Week, but from Twitter to the New York Times, it has unofficially been dubbed “Yeezy Season 3” day. After a week of castings, collection teasers, album name changes and social media rants, the rapper-turned-designer will take over Madison Square Garden at 4:00 p.m. to debut both his fall 2016 fashion range, as well as his brand new album, titled “The Life of Pablo.”
The discussion around West’s appearance on the schedule hasn’t all been positive, though. There’s the fact that it takes attention (and attendance) away from smaller designers who invest countless hours and thousands of dollars in putting on shows to tell their stories for the season. And Wednesday night on Twitter, fashion fans were buzzing about another industry faux pas that West may have made: taking a little too much inspiration from another brand. Kim Kardashian West tweeted a sneak peek at the Yeezy Season 3 women’s footwear, and almost immediately, the platform was flooded with evidence that the plastic-y, glove-like heeled booties with back zippers bear a strong resemblance to the shoes that Raf Simons showed in Dior’s fall 2015 collection (see below).
Of course, there are key differences: Dior’s version came with thinner heels in various contrasting colors, but the likeness is still apparent. After Yeezy Season 1, West told Dirk Standen outright that Raf Simons is one of his biggest inspirations in an exclusive interview with Style.com:
“You guys know my fucking influences. I’ve got four influences and it’s written all over the face, you know the combination. Just as much as Drake is influenced by Kanye West, you know my fucking influences. You see Raf Simons right there, you see Helmut, you see Margiela, you see Vanessa [Beecroft], you see Katharine Hamnett. It’s blatantly right there. I’m not going to try and act like I was influenced by a fucking dog walking down the street that broke its ankle that I had a heartfelt discussion with.”
Plus, on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” Kim once revealed that her husband looks to Kylie Jenner more than anyone else in the family for fashion advice, and to keep him abreast on what’s “cool” among the youths. As evidenced by Instagram, Jenner wore the Dior booties in question a few months back.
We’ll be sure to bring you more from the Yeezy Season 3 collection once it debuts in full, but hopefully the rest of the designs are less familiar than this one.
[“source-fashionista”]