Hurricane (or whatever it was) Hermine was nothing compared to the storm stirred up Wednesday afternoon by Kanye West and his Yeezy Season 4 for Adidas fashion show.
Guests, kept guessing all day as to the show’s locale, were directed to meet shuttle buses on West 26th Street at 1:30 p.m.. From there, they headed across town to Roosevelt Island, where West took over the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park. The show, on the day before the official start of New York Fashion Week, was slated to begin at 3 p.m. It started at 4:39.
More than 100 models stood, baking in the sun for close to an hour, in various forms of skin-toned leotards, bras and body suits, an artistic installation by performance artist Vanessa Beecroft, West’s longtime collaborator. Some couldn’t hack it and required water, as they seemed to collapse.
After 30 minutes of eerie, toneless music and watching the models drop like flies, the actual clothes took to the triangular runway. A small collection of chunky coats, slinky dresses, and oversized sweatshirts came out, mostly in pale tones (the kind often seen on Kim Kardashian, who wore a nearly see-through version to the show). Supermodel Chanel Iman closed in inky black. The clothes were decent – cool even – but the shoes and boots were a different story, as several models had major issues walking in them. West took a mini-bow to a very tepid round of applause.
Front rowers, included Pharell, Lala Anthony and Desiigner, along with Kardashian and sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner (who all arrived more than an hour late). Then it was back to the bus, which arrived around 6:30 p.m.
Let it be said: It ain’t easy to see Yeezy.
