PFW Spring/Summer 2012: Kanye Debuts In Paris, Gets Slammed By Critics Already

Kanye West showed his debut collection tonight in Paris. The show was easily one of the most buzzed about of the week and he wrangled an impressive front row, with designers outweighing celebrities. Based on reports from Twitter and Eric Wilson’s just-postedwrite-up on the Times‘ blog On the Runway, Azzedine Alaïa, Joseph Altuzarra, Alexander Wang, Olivier Theyskens, Dean and Dan Caten, Jeremy Scott and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were all there. The right editors were there too: 

Anna Wintour, Carine Roitfeld, Glenda Bailey and Anna Dello Russo. As for the celebrities who showed? La Lohan was there, as we reported, and so was Ciara, but sadly Beyonce and Jay-Z were no-shows. Or maybe, not so sadly, considering the show was slammed by critics almost as soon as the first model hit the runway.

We’ll have our review posted tomorrow morning (our fabulous contributor, Flaunt’sLong Nguyen, was one of the lucky 100 granted a ticket). Until then, here’s what the critics had to say about it over Twitter. Warning, it’s not pretty.

@CathyHorynNYT: Next season Kanye should get a tailor so clothes might fit. Models swimming in some looks. Kills the hot look, no?

@JessicaMichault: The Kanye West show, in my humble opinion, is proof that everyone can love fashion but not everyone can be a fashion designer.
and
I think that every one of the designers sitting in the front row at Kanye West must have had a deja vue moment at some point during the show
and
Kanye West taking his bow after his debut as a “designer.”

Ouch. According to Eric Wilson’s report, the show seems to have been pulled together rather quickly. Chanel Iman told him West called her only days before to fly her out to Paris to walk in his show. West had refused to give any interviews pre-show, but couldn’t avoid the press post-show. “I had a lot of ideas about colors and shapes I wanted to express [and] I’m really happy where I ended up,” he told Wilson at the Times. He also said his “biggest hurdle” in getting the right folks to work with him was “the whole idea of a celebrity-designer or a rapper-designer.” Looks like that might still be a hurdle for him. Stay tuned for our review.