Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
Kanye West at Paris fashion week.
Kanye West at Paris fashion week at the weekend. Photograph: Stéphane Cardinale/Corbis/Getty Images
Kanye West at Paris fashion week at the weekend. Photograph: Stéphane Cardinale/Corbis/Getty Images

Kanye West stirs controversy in ‘White Lives Matter’ T-shirt at Paris fashion week

This article is more than 1 year old

Rapper referenced Kim Kardashian’s 2016 robbery and Gap fallout at Yeezy Season 9 show that featured Naomi Campbell

It was billed as a surprise fashion show but landed as a bigger surprise than expected. A “secret” catwalk event by Kanye West at Paris fashion week included a T-shirt with the slogan “White Lives Matter”.

The shirt, which featured a photo of Pope John Paul II on the front, was worn by models on the catwalk and by Ye, as West prefers to be known, along with the rightwing commentator Candace Owens, a guest at the show.

Before the Yeezy Season 9 show began, Ye told the audience: “Everyone here knows that I am the leader … you can’t manage me. This is an unmanageable situation.”

He went on to reference his ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s robbery in Paris in 2016, his former manager Scooter Braun, and his recent falling out with Gap. Naomi Campbell modelled in the show but she did not wear the controversial T-shirt. The rapper’s daughter North West led a children’s choir who performed at the event.

The Anti-Defamation League categorises the phrase White Lives Matter, which reframes the Black Lives Matter phrase used to protest against brutality, as a hate statement.

pic.twitter.com/e8nlOFBg06

— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) October 3, 2022

Ye has previously made problematic statements about race. In 2018, he said 400 years of slavery in the US “sounds like a choice”, although he later attempted to row back from the comment.

The show marked Ye’s return to high fashion after collaborations with Gap and Adidas recently came to an abrupt end. In September, Ye severed a two-year partnership with Gap, claiming the store failed to meet the terms of the contract.

He has since criticised the $200 price tags Gap put on the T-shirts. In the same month, Ye announced his intention to break with Adidas, saying “it’s time for me to go it alone”.

Kanye West and Naomi Campbell in London in September. Photograph: David M Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Burberry

In 2016, a previous Yeezy show in New York was criticised after models were required to stand for long periods with no shade or water. The show, held in the grounds of Roosevelt Island, was two hours late and one model fainted before it was over.

This was the fourth fashion show Ye has held in Paris, where he made his debut as a fashion designer in 2011. His fashion career began in 2008, when he took an internship at Fendi; the following year, he attended Paris fashion week for the first time.

Ye told Vogue Business: “Paris is the high cathedral of fashion. If I’m doing music, rap music, I’m going to put my hoodie on and get an Uber and go over to Future’s house. Day after day. And if we’re working on clothes? Paris.”

More on this story

More on this story

  • Adidas to sell second batch of Yeezy trainers after breakup with Kanye West

  • Nicolas Ghesquière marks 10 years at Louis Vuitton with powerhouse Paris show

  • Adidas plans not to destroy unsold Yeezy stock but sell it off for charity

  • Chanel brings Hollywood and seaside chic to Paris fashion week

  • Stella McCartney celebrates Mother Earth with no lack of glamour

  • Adidas could take €1.2bn revenue hit if it writes off Kanye West’s Yeezy stock

  • Kanye West suspended from Twitter after posting swastika inside Star of David

  • Seán McGirr taps into 90s-era spikiness in Alexander McQueen debut show

  • Peta protesters disrupt Victoria Beckham’s Paris fashion week show

  • Kanye West wax figure removed from public view at Madame Tussauds

Most viewed

Most viewed