Vogue ‘does not intend’ to work with Kanye West again

News comes as Balenciaga severes ties with the rapper

Saman Javed
Saturday 22 October 2022 10:15 BST
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Vogue does “not intend” to work with Kanye West again amid multiple controversies surrounding the rapper.

West has dominated headlines in recent weeks after he made antisemitic remarks, and sent models down the catwalk in “White Lives Matter” T-shirts during his Yeezy SZN 9 presentation in Paris.

On Friday (21 October), a spokesperson for Vogue told Page Six that neither the fashion publication nor editor-in-chief Anna Wintour intended to work with West going forward.

The Independent has contacted Vogue and West for comment.

Wintour and West have had a longstanding relationship since she first invited him to the annual Met Gala in 2009.

The rapper and his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, also featured on the cover of American Vogue in 2014 following their wedding.

“Anna has had enough,” a source told Page Six. “She has made it very clear inside Vogue that Kanye is no longer part of the inner circle.”

The news comes as French fashion house Balenciaga announced it will no longer do business with West.

The decision was announced by Balenciaga’s parent company, Kering.

“Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist,” a statement to WWD read.

Neither Vogue or Anna Wintour intends to work with the rapper again
Neither Vogue or Anna Wintour intends to work with the rapper again (Getty Images for Fast Company)

The end of the partnership is significant, given that West previously collaborated with Balenciaga and its artistic director, Demna, on various projects.

West made his modelling debut and opened Balenciaga’s spring/summer 2023 show at the beginning of the month.

West walked down a mud-filled showspace in Paris wearing a security guard-style jacket, leather trousers, a baseball cap, and his hood pulled up.

Days later, at his own Yeezy show, West posed next to controversial conservative figure Candace Owens wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt.

As noted by anti-hate organisations Anti-Defamation League, the phrase “White Lives Matter” is a “white supremacist phrase that originated in early 2015 as a racist response to the Black Lives Matter movement”.

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