Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga is Here, and It’s Just Getting Started

As the clock ticked down to 2pm on 22/2/22, Kanye West fans waited with bated breath. The countdown hit zero, but instead of loading, screens all over the world refreshed, signaling that the accompanying Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga launch would follow Ye’s usual pattern of delayed releases. Originally planned to coincide with the DONDA 2 listening party in Miami, the collection didn’t see the light until the very next day, save for a few styles that were made available at the live event.

The initial drop saw t-shirts and hoodie styles that erred much more on the ‘merch’ side of the spectrum, and when yeezygap.com eventually opened, fans were also treated to a version of the denim jacket that Ye had been wearing all over town. However, Balenciaga then took Instagram to share the full look book, which was the avant-garde, YEEZUS-era Kanye-esque take we had all been waiting for.

Ye’s love affair with Balenciaga began long before his split with Kim, and for some time it felt like it was the most constant part of his image. Whilst Ye came under fire once again for his erratic and unpredictable behaviour, one thing was for sure – he'd be doing it whilst decked out in the French fashion house.

Balenciaga’s Creative Director, Demna Gvasalia, is a long-time friend and collaborator of Mr. West. It was a masked Demna who had accompanied Kim to the Met Gala, and it was Demna who had worked on the set design for the DONDA listening parties. For a mogul like Ye to hand over so much of his creative direction is something unheard of, but it seemed as if Demna had ignited some sort of fire within the rapper, and it was only a matter of time before they took their creative partnership to the next level.

Whilst we were so used to seeing Ye in Yeezy, his transition to walking Balenciaga look book sparked rumours on social media. There were even rumours that Balenciaga was using the Kardashian-West divorce as a marketing campaign, which became even messier when a Balenciaga-clad Julia Fox was thrown into the mix. If this was the case, it seemed that Demna wasn’t one to take sides – Kim was photographed in a brand campaign just this year.

When it was announced that Balenciaga would be joining the Yeezy Gap link up, it came as a surprise to everyone, yet absolutely no one at the same time. Not only did it make sense from a ‘look what Ye’s been wearing’ point of view, but if you were to dig a little deeper into the designers' mindsets, it was evident that they had a similar vision. The idea of the Yeezy Gap collection, in the first place, was to create products that blurred the lines between affordable and luxury, utilitarian and high fashion. In a way, it is the same as when Ye joined adidas – he famously proclaimed that everyone would be able to buy Yeezy; now you’d be hard-pressed to find a fashion enthusiast without a pair.

Given the brand's status, Balenciaga’s connection to the everyman is a little harder to unpack. Being a luxury brand means that their price points are hardly accessible to everyone, but that being said, no luxury brand has found a way to capitalise on the norm in the same way Balenciaga has done. Often ridiculed, and sometimes criticised for their takes on the mediocre, the ugly and even the kitsch, Demna’s ethos has always been about creating connections between high fashion and the real world – whether that’s through a reflective workers jacket or an episode of The Simpsons. Joining forces with Yeezy and Gap in this way allows Denma to forge real connections this time, whilst still managing to bring high-fashion designs to the masses, and the three-way collab announcement saw searches for Balenciaga spike to a 12-month high.

The upcoming Yeezy Gap Engineered by Gap collection is certainly still high fashion-focused. Whilst there are of course, staple styles like t-shirts and sweatshirts – the things you could pick up at the merch stall, the look book hints that the more avant-garde items are yet to come. Amongst them, there is a longer version of the original Yeezy Gap Round Jacket, as well as shiny parkers, windbreakers and leather and denim looks. All the models within the look book are masked – the significance relating to Kanye’s many mask-wearing appearances, and Demna’s too at the Met Gala. However, the dark, gothic vibes signify a new era for Ye, one that could be considered slightly more problematic. Whilst Demna played with dark symbolism back in his Vetements days, Ye’s rekindled love for masks calls back his YEEZUS era, where the mask was meant to separate the art from the artist. Given his recent outbursts and subsequent criticism, as well as his ongoing relationships with disgraced Marylin Manson and Da Baby, it seems that this could be a sentiment he would be trying to push once more.

Separating the art from the artist, and indeed the performance from the personal does seem to be an avenue both Ye and Demna are exploring. Shortly after Kanye filed to legally change his name to Ye, Balenciaga’s Fall Winter 22 show notes ended “From now on, Demna uses only his first name, distinguishing an artist title from a birth name and therefore separating creative work from personal life.” It could be that both designers are using this collaboration as a vehicle to try and to reconnect with themselves, what makes them human and therefore just like everyone else, but in reality, few people feel that they can relate to Ye – it's why his friendship with Demna works so well. The more likely alternative is that it could all be part of a bigger performance – with both artists acting as each other’s muse – just as Ye's ex, Julia Fox, claimed to be Josh Safdies’ muse when he wrote “Uhncut Jamms.”

Ultimately, the collection, and indeed everything leading up to it, explores human emotions at their rawest. Love, hate, jealousy, and darkness all play a part here, as do the concepts of religion and ego. Demna and Ye (their artist names are significant here) are building something that transcends fashion, but at the same time uses clothes as a vehicle to talk about much, much more. Ye once said that he wanted shopping to be art, and with the performance elements that have gone into this collaboration, he may be well on to a winner.

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