Yeezy

Week 7 was meant to be our class trip to Berlin but unfortunately due to Covid-19 UL cancelled the trip. We were still allowed to go on our own free will, but I did not want to risk it and decided to stay here in Ireland. For the people who stayed, there was no class this week and therefore Muireann let us base this blog on any aspect of design we had an interest in or we were inspired by. I decided to base this blog on “Mr. Ye, Yeezy” himself Kanye West. From his music to his collaborations with Nike and Adidas, Kanye has always been somebody admire.

For those of you who have never heard of Kanye West, he is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, and fashion designer. In 2009 Kanye collaborated with a world-famous shoe company, Nike. The duo released West’s own shoe brand, Air Yeezys. Inspiration from other shoes such as the Air Tech Challenge II, Jordan III and IV pushed West to develop the Air Yeezy shoes. He would carry on his collection of the Yeezy shoe with Adidas after leaving Nike due to payment issues. With Adidas he released Yeezy Boost 350, Yeezy Boost 750, Yeezy 950, Yeezy 350 Cleat and many more. Adidas's partnership with Kanye West is an unquestionable success story. Since teaming up with the brand in 2014, Kanye has helped revitalize Adidas's image, creating what are probably the most hyped-up sneakers the company has ever seen.

For me I’ve been a fan of Kanye’s for quite a while. I always find inspiration behind his music. He speaks his mind and I always find it aspiring listening to his music. Regarding his design work I envy him. To get the chance to work with two of the biggest sports brands out there in Nike and Adidas is a dream of mine. I always think about designing for a top sports brand and someday I hope to fulfil this dream.

Kanye has also got to collab with some infamous designers for example Virgil Abloh. Their work together ranges from everything to designing merch to album art to set designs. Abloh had a hand in West’s creative output since before The College Dropout. Kanye has described Virgil as “one of the smartest, fastest, most innovative people I’ve created with. In other words? Game recognize game.”

Kanye is a role model for any young designer. His work speaks for itself and in no doubt he is a big inspiration to me and someone I look up to in the design and well as music industry.