Putting
his 'holier than thou' attitude to a side, rapper Kanye West does deserve some
merit - especially when it comes to his fashion choices. Kanye has been pushing
fashion's boundaries out in all directions since hitting the big time. It all
began with his preppy-meets-nerdy-meets-gangsta take on style. Mixing Ralph
Lauren with streetwear and other brands, Kanye stood out from day one for his
dress-sense.
In
recent years, his casual look has gone quite basic but with a strong emphasis
on oversized, flawlessly created silhouettes that are slouchy and relaxed but
not unflattering. Semi-baggy jeans mixed with Timberland boots, a plain white
t-shirt and a parka jacket is one example of how simple his style can be.
However, he isn't afraid to march bravely into unknown territory. Kanye
received a lot of flack for wearing a pleated leather 'skirt' for men by
Givenchy, but it showed that he wasn't afraid to do something completely
different with his style and he re-mixed it to blend with his own image in a
way that worked effortlessly.
Kanye
also surprised the world when he appeared on stage wearing a Céline shirt -
taken from a womenswear collection - but he unbuttoned it to show some chest,
rolled up the sleeves and added a stack of gold chains to put a masculine spin
the look. It worked and showed that people don't need to be shy about fashion
or feel they have to stick to the collections that are for their set gender.
Kanye's
experimentations have made the fashion world a more exciting experience for men
and brought that it to the mainstream. He shows that you don't have to play by
the rules when it comes to getting dressed and he continues to march to his own
beat when he's piecing together original looks.
