Kanye’s Yeezy Season 5 Show Rescheduled After CFDA Complains of Conflicts

Update: Peace has been restored (for now). Yeezy Season 5 will now take place on February 15 at 3 p.m. and will be advertised on the official Fashion Week calendar. A penitent Kanye and mollified CFDA president and chief executive officer Steven Kolb settled on the new time slot together. “Kanye called me personally to let me know that he had no intention of showing on top of another designer, and was unaware that there was a conflict,” Kolb told WWD. “He explained that once he realized Marchesa was in the time slot, he immediately looked at alternative options. The CFDA appreciates Kanye’s outreach and effort, and we look forward to working with him far in advance to integrate Yeezy into the schedule in seasons to come.” See? No harm, no foul.

February 2, 2017

What’s a Yeezy show without a little drama? WWD reports that CFDA CEO Steven Kolb finds Kanye West’s choice of time slot to be inconsiderate and unacceptable. “Once again, CFDA was not approached or consulted about the possibility of Kanye West showing on the official New York Fashion Week schedule,” Kolb told the publication. “Not going through the proper channels is disruptive to the whole week and unfair to designers who have secured spots through the formal procedure.”

The CFDA is willing to work with Kanye to reschedule Yeezy Season 5 for a more opportune time (one that does not directly conflict with Marchesa or, potentially, Anna Sui, Thom Browne and Assembly). However, as things stand, the organization will not be adding Yeezy Season 5 to the official Fashion Week calendar. “This bad behavior is not acceptable to the CFDA and should not be tolerated by the industry,” Kolb affirmed. And yet, we expect many will “tolerate” an invite anyway.

February 1, 2017

Models pose (and sit due to exhaustion) at the Yeezy Season 4 fashion show on September 7, 2016 in New York City; Image: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Yeezy Season 4

Given that his over-the-top Yeezy Season 4 presentation met with scathing reviews (largely due to its inhumane modeling conditions and delayed start time), one might expect Kanye West to join the host of designers skipping New York Fashion Week. But that he is not. On Wednesday, February 15 at 5 p.m. EST, West’s Adidas collab will return to the runway. This time around, the rapper won’t be sending industry insiders on an odyssey to Roosevelt Island. Rather, the show will take place at popular NYFW venue Pier 59 Studios, a climate-controlled space within walking distance of Milk Studios. (The year of realizing stuff strikes again.)

The Yeezy Season 5 show will directly conflict with that of downtown It label Assembly (which presented its Spring 2017 wares by way of a basketball game, cue the smiles) and red carpet staple Marchesa. Additionally, it poses an issue for industry insiders looking to take in Thom Browne’s Fall 2017 presentation, which kicks off at 6 p.m. (We all know Kanye West is not one for punctuality.) Thus, it’ll be interesting to see whether a significant number of fashion people choose to sit out Yeezy Season 5.

We doubt it. As Man Repeller’s Leandra Medine wrote in the wake of last year’s Yeezy debacle: “You know what’s weird is last year I was invited, didn’t go and then slammed it. And Kanye’s response was ‘thanks for your honesty.’ The part that’s confusing and kind of frustrating for me is that he succeeds in getting the press. All of it. When he very well knows the response will be outrage. And it still feels like he won. Because he did! They/we all went.”

While we all await the new collection, here’s a look at Yeezy Season 4 (aka spring 2017).

[ via Fashionista ]