Is Kanye West Collaborating With A.P.C.?

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Complex Original

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For the most part, Kanye West has remained elusive to the press both in anticipation of and following the release of his most recent album, Yeezus. The only interview West had granted was to Jon Caramanica of The New York Times, until W Magazine unveiled their latest profile on the Chicago rapper. The story, written by Cristopher Bagley, takes place at Kanye West's Parisian loft/museum-in-progress, where West was attempting to put the finishing touches on his new LP. As expected, the interview contains an extraordinary amount of quotables, including a statement where West defends his track "I Am A God", by simply stating, "Because I am a god. I don't think there's much more explanation." Most surprising was an excerpt in which Bagley recalls Kanye discussing the response to his women's collections and how he now feels the pressure to tone down his aesthetic for a more "sensible" audience. Bagley then goes on to state, "That might be accomplished by his new men’s capsule collection of jeans, T-shirts, and hoodies for a hip French brand, to be unveiled in July."

We can't help but think that "hip French brand" is A.P.C. given Kanye's public friendship with founder/designer/well-known asshole Jean Touitou. It makes even more sense when you consider what A.P.C. does best—those aforementioned jeans, T-shirts and hoodies. A person familiar with the situation told Four Pins that they have in fact received confirmation that "Kanye and A.P.C. are working on something together." A.P.C. has not immediately responded to a request for comment and we will update if they do.

For now we can only speculate on what West's new minimalist and "sensible" aesthetic will bring to the already minimal Parisian label. With that in mind, what's certain is that whatever what these two parties unveil will be met with extraordinary hype and anticipation.

Update: In Pitchfork's oral history of the Yeezus recording process, "The Yeezus Sessions", Kanye West associate Travi$ Scott seems to further corroborate the potential collaboration with A.P.C. saying, "Then 'Ye's like, 'You gotta come to Paris.' I got a passport and went. It was just me, 'Ye, and Noah Goldstein at first. We weren't even doing actual studio shit. We were just chilling, running around A.P.C.'s offices, making music on my laptop."

Additional reporting by Foster Kamer

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A potential "men’s capsule collection of jeans, T-shirts, and hoodies" makes total sense when you consider that's pretty much all Kanye's been wearing leading up to and following the highly-anticipated release of Yeezus. Also, for what it's worth, new dads prefer to keep it cozy.

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In Kanye's recent interview with The New York Times he claims to have drawn heavy inspiration from Le Corbusier furniture to develop the minimalist sound of Yeezus. His new fascination with minimal design makes a potential collaboration with A.P.C. all the more perfect, considering the Parisian label has made a name for itself off of its own signature minimalism since 1987.

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