Kanye West doesn't mind creating a bit of a scene. His recent appearance on Saturday Night Live was overshadowed by the secretly recorded expletive filled meltdown in which he described himself as being 50% more influential than Jesus' apostle Paul (yeah, the guy who co-wrote the Bible). What seems to have slipped through to the keeper though was Kanye's footwear choice.
We aren't privy to the green room goings on, but it appears that three adidas style black stripes were added in texta to Kanye's Vans sneakers before he appeared in front of the cameras. Now we're completely guessing, but we reckon it was a last ditch attempt to satisfy Kanye's obligations to adidas to wear their shoes when he performs. Or, it was a piece of performance art.
The stunt sent the sneaker bloggers (yep, they're a thing) into meltdown, speculating that the years long and apparently successful collaboration between adidas and Mr West was about to end.
Ye is not alone on the shoe endorsement drama front. Last year Our Jessica Mauboy caused a right kerfuffle when she dropped out at the last minute of her scheduled national anthem performance at the Melbourne Cup. We hear that Myer, which had an exclusivity deal with the Melbourne Cup, objected to Jessica wearing shoes which were not available at Myer. The drama all became a bit much and when Jess had a slight meltdown, one of her backing singers stepped up.
Celebrities are gathering more and more power in the fashion world. Who would even consider not having a Kardashian seated front row at their show, or launching a fragrance without a film star featuring in a nonsensical short film? However, trusting your brand in the hands of a celebrity can be high risk. Therefore we recommend you have a tight contract, and pay particular attention to the exclusivity (eg. can't be seen wearing Nike), morals (don't be papped nose deep in anything), and confidentiality provisions.
We do not disclaim anything about this article. We're quite proud of it really.
