Kanye West: The Greatest Fashion Influencer of the Decade

Kanye West has cemented himself as a very controversial character over the years, but there is nothing controversial about the impact he has had on the fashion industry. From Kanye West’s utilization and popularization of ADIDAS Boost, to his popular use of earth tones and baggy fittings, he has created some of the biggest fashion trends worldwide.

In the October of 2015, Kanye dropped the season 1 collection of his clothing/footwear line “Yeezy”. This drop included baggy, distressed earth-toned clothing and military styled utility clothing. This drop also introduced the Yeezy 350s and 750s to the world — to critical acclaim. Although criticized for its bulky design and prime knit material, the shoes were a success and created a resale frenzy, boosting its price from $200 retail to thousands of dollars in resale value. Much like the apparel of the collection, these shoes came in muted colors such as beige, off white coloring, and black. These shoes became influential almost immediately and many well known artists modeled it, or were spotted wearing them by paparazzi.

- Empyrean Streetwear

Streetwear transformed overnight from bold, baggy graphic tees and bottoms, to earth tones and muted color apparels with fitted joggers and bulky shoes. A typical outfit from 2015-2017 would be a loose fitting solid color shirt, with fitted joggers that blended into the shoes of the individual. These subtle outfits laid the groundwork for the shift into minimalism for high fashion brands and worldwide brands such as Adidas, Off-White (Kanye and the late Virgil Abloh were very close and shared ideas), and most recently Gap. Sneakerwear and its culture also shifted into the world of primeknit material, along with a transition into athleisure shoes with the popularity of Yeezy Boosts and Adidas NMDs.

Although 2015 was only six year ago, Kanye West’s influence on fashion seems to have no intention of going anywhere, and Yeezy continues to grow in influence and brand collaborations, especially with its recent 10-year deal with Gap. On the first day of the hoodies going live on GAP.com, it broke the single-day sales record for the company. We will pay attention to not only Yeezy as a brand, but also Yeezus himself.