Have you ever been like an ape? You want to ape a certain person’s style. You want to take some bit of their makeup and their clothes, paste them together and come out looking like them. You want to make yourself completely, uncannily their doppelganger. But to achieve this you first need to become exactly the same person the person wants you to be.
Which is what Virgil Abloh, founder of Kanye West’s sportswear label Yeezy, is doing. He has just launched a fashion line in his name, Part II. There will be dresses, dresses, and dresses. If you like sparkly things in flannel, shiny things in lace, shiny things in pink, glittery things in green, glittery things in white, glittery things in black, glittery things in sage green – as well as dresses – then this is for you.
Bustle thinks his debut collection of six looks was “shamelessly” contrived. Emily Browning, whose 16-year-old daughter is named after Abloh’s pride in him, called it “fame dripped through every inch of your skin”. Unfortunately, she also called Justin Bieber’s fashion line cringeworthy, too. And yes, it did begin: It was a “gypsy roadster” of a look, a crystal jacket with a flower on it, and the songs She, She, She had an electric eye-stream through it and blew you into oblivion. This could have been a massive meta night at the Shoreditch Rickshaw Stop, but also a moment of genuine joy when you realise that the chances of having a day on the planet very often look like this.
Leeds fashion is worth a shout. It has climbed two rungs of the fashion ladder over the past three years and now some of the best-dressed children in the country may be going to attend Leeds North East academy, in St Patrick Street, where students were offered equal prizes to local students at the GQ Man of the Year awards this weekend.
There’s a certain vacuity to Instagram-driven confidence, but it can be a source of pleasure for anyone who is genuinely confident about their looks. By posting a picture on the social media platform, they not only ensure others can look at them and see that they look fabulous, but also that they’re being completely ridiculous. Which is important for a kid, especially a teenager, whose self-esteem will probably never be bad enough to take over the world.
“I like having my own personality, but I want to leave a strong legacy that will make people look at me and be inspired,” said Abloh earlier this year. Fashion is a fantastic avenue to achieve that goal.
• The writer-turned-cartoonist and S’ilv’e illustrator Violet Redou and The Carword Ladies’ Blog are blogs. Carword returns to 4 July.