Kanye LV issue

Kanye West for LV in the GQ magazine....

Kanye West collaborates with Louis Vuitton on a line of luxe shoes

Louis Vuitton has long been the rapper’s label of choice - indeed it was once rumoured that when hip-hop WAG (and now Phat Fashions creative director) Kimora Simmons was still married to Def Jam record label founder Russell she was the French house’s biggest customer. So it makes sense that it has now teamed up with Kanye West to bring out a line of shoes. The relationship should have come as no surprise as, in his own words (from “Last Call” with Jay-Z) he’s “Kan, the Louis Vuitton don”. The Kanye West collection will consist of three designs: classic trainers called Don’s; high tops called Tour; and Mr Hudson, which are based on boat shoes…

When GQ meets up with West in the Louis Vuitton showroom in Paris, all cream carpets and panoramic views down the Seine to the Eiffel Tower, it appears that he is almost as excited by this project as he is by shifting millions of records around the world. Proof of this comes when I am ushered into the side room that contains all West’s shoes, where he reviews his designs in private. Bear in mind that this is the man who, for the next week, is never seen surrounded by less than four people…

As a man who takes his footwear seriously, West is keen that I try on all his designs after himself; he takes the opportunity to see what they look like on someone else’s feet as well as his own. The three lines he finally decided upon are the result of a whole pile of prototypes, which he constantly examines minutely - you can tell he found it hard to be limited to just a trio of choices. While picking up and putting down a series of different shapes and colours of trainers, West discusses every tiny detail of the shoes, though for a performer he is surprisingly shy and speaks very quietly - rarely catching your eye.

But he is more than happy with the final three, particularly with his hip-hop take on a boat shoe. And when he attends the Louis Vuitton catwalk show later that week he is wearing a bright-red version of the “Don’s”. To rhyme with “Vuit-ton’s”, of course.