PARIS — Balenciaga has severed its ties with Ye.
Following the release of its third-quarter results on Thursday, parent company Kering said the French fashion house would no longer work on projects with the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who has made increasingly controversial public comments in recent weeks. , including anti-Semitic Threats.
“Balenciaga no longer has any relationship or plans for future projects related to this artist,” Kering said in response to a query from WWD. He did not elaborate.
The “Stronger” singer opened Balenciaga’s summer 2023 show, which took place in a mud pit during Paris Fashion Week, dressed in what looked like battle gear, including a branded mouth guard. to protect your teeth. The image has been removed from the Balenciaga website.
It was his latest collaboration with Balenciaga artistic director Demna, following the launch earlier this year of his Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga line, which launched in February alongside the unveiling of Ye’s “Donda 2” experience in Miami. . Demna served as creative director for a previous listening event for the album last year.
The designer also has a strong relationship with Ye’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian, who appears in Balenciaga ad campaigns, and his extended family. Sisters Kylie Jenner and Khloé Kardashian attended the Balenciaga show on October 2.
Last month, Ye ended his association with Gap Inc., signaling an increasingly combative attitude that has also left his 10-year relationship with Adidas in the balance. The German sportswear firm said on October 6 that her association with the Yeezy brand was “under review.”
The rapper, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016, has seemed to lose control since performing a surprise YZY show in Paris that featured “White Lives Matter” slogan T-shirts and opened with a monologue he was proud of. as “unmanageable”.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, “White Lives Matter” is a white supremacist phrase that originated in early 2015 as a racist response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
In the face of public backlash over the show, Ye publicly attacked everyone from fashion editors to former friends and luxury mogul Bernard Arnault. After he was suspended from Instagram and Twitter for violating the platforms’ policies on hate speech, Ye said that he had agreed to buy the right-wing social media platform Parler.
Balenciaga has not made any public comments about his ties to Ye, leading some industry commentators to question his stance and the future of the relationship.
Source: news.google.com