Kanye West, Joan Smalls Star In Balmain’s Fall 2016 Campaign


Well, Kanye West, if you’re going to keep making women famous, it may as well be the perfect time that a company capitalizes on that star power.

On Monday afternoon, the “Good Life” rapper was announced by Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing to be the next face of the company’s Fall 2016 campaign along with supermodel Joan Smalls. West previously worked with the company in 2015, starring alongside wife Kim Kardashian in the Army of Lovers spring/summer campaign.

Other members of the Kardashian family, including Kim Kardashian and both Kendall and Kylie Jenner, all have been a part of the brand’s campaigns in the past.

Smalls, 28, is a Puerto Rican model who has mainly modeled for Victoria’s Secret and Vogue in the past. She also hosted House of Style, an MTV fashion series that was revived in 2012 after originally running from 1989 to 2000 on the network. This is not Smalls’ first encounter with rap, as she co-starred in the music video for A$AP Rocky’s “Phoenix” in 2013 alongside Wire alum Michael K. Williams.

Another music video that Smalls appeared in? Beyonce’s “Yonce.” Who is Beyonce and her husband, Jay-Z close with? Kanye West, of course.

On his verified Instagram page, Rousteing revealed the first few images of the campaign.

It’s certainly different, but the pictures definitely came out great. Let’s just hope that West falling isn’t a metaphor for his rap skills.

Being different has always been a category where West has excelled. In a genre that has long seen a love for throwback jerseys, du-rags, and baseball caps, the “Power” rapper has helped try to bring a new form of style and appearance to hip-hop. While West is still prone to a T-shirt or two, it’s more likely now he’ll show up in something unique than a classic Washington Redskins jersey.

In an interview with Hypebeast earlier this year, Oliver professed his love and respect for the 21-time Grammy winner when it came to fashion.

“If I think about someone who I love and respect for their vision and brand, I’d have to say Kanye West. I love Yeezy. I wear Yeezy. You know what I love about him? It’s that he can create so much tension and power at the same time. It’s insane! I went to his show in Madison Square Garden and I was just like, ‘Wow! This is fashion.’ In one live moment, there were 20,000 surrounding his clothes, while launching a new album, The Life of Pablo, dressing everybody in Yeezy. This is the dream of every designer. You might not do the same clothes as he does, but just imagine having all of these people and TVs around your show. You have like Anna Wintour, and at the same time you have Lil’ Kim, you have 50 Cent and you have Kim K. You sit back and you’re just like, ‘You are a f***ing god because you made this happen. I love him. I love that he has no boundaries and says what he wants. He’ll say to me ‘yes, you know what I mean.’… I admire him because he has the chance to be free.”

As one of the most groundbreaking rappers in the 21st century, Oliver is not alone in loving West’s influence on others in the fashion industry.

Niki McGloster of Teen Vogue may have put it best last month in a feature story for the website.

“Kanye’s impact on the fashion industry and the youth has been apparent since he swayed kids to wear those God-awful shutter shades and beg their parents to buy them Air Yeezys. Later, he singlehandedly introduced street kids to Phillip Lim with the ballerina-laden genius of Runaway. And when rap fans watched The Throne roll out all kinds of Givenchy collaborations from leather kilts to album artwork, it proved that individuality and creative expression through fashion trumped archaic gender norms.”

Earlier this year, West dropped his seventh solo album, The Life of Pablo, to critical acclaim — though fans haven’t been as supportive, with many yearning for the days of Graduation and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy to return. Supposedly, West will be dropping a second album in 2016, Turbo Grafx 16, but there has been no word on this project in several months.

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