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One Fashion Week Designer Just Defended Kanye West for the #YeezySeason4 Debacle
Malan Breton shares his take on Yeezy's controversial show, as Vanessa Beecroft also shares her side.
In case you missed it, Kanye West's Yeezy Season 4 presentation earlier this week got a lot of buzz and even some backlash. And it wasn't because of the clothes. During Wednesday's event on Roosevelt Island, several models fell to the ground after having to stand in the sun for about two hours. Many fashion editors didn't find the whole affair very amusing. Yeezy's frequent collaborator, performance artist Vanessa Beecroft, who worked with him on the event, addressed the controversy in an interview with Page Six. She noted that the two-hour delay was all apart of the show's experience.
"Everyone was in a state of meditation … The long wait before, I believe it was planned because [West] wanted the audience to get into this state of having to observe and having to stay.”
She went on to address why audience members tried to help the models, and not those who were working the show. “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 … It wasn’t physical. There was food and water. The situation is so intense and people are looking at you and you are standing," she said. “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.”
The show didn't exactly get glowing reviews. But Vanessa seemed to shake it off. “I learned recently that press is really cruel and not representative of the actual truth.”
Designer Malan Breton mirrored some of those sentiments when also speaking out about the controversy. In an interview with The Lookbook at his own show on Thursday during New York Fashion Week, he defended the rapper/designer—and gave some insight into how something like that could even happen.
"I feel bad. I feel bad for some of the models, but you know I've met Kanye. He's a really nice guy," he said. "I don't know what to say, honestly. I feel like maybe they should have provided a little bit more water for them and just made sure [the models were safe], but other than that I feel bad. That's sad... It's not even his fault at all. I mean honestly we have so many production people that work on the show, that it goes out of our hands pretty much. So it shouldn't be in his lap, it should be on whoever produced his show and did that."
