Kanye West Dissects His Design Methodology in ‘Forbes’ Video Interview

In line with its latest cover story profiling Kanye West and his YEEZY empire, Forbes has released a new video interview documenting Ye’s creative process and design methodology. Most recently, Ye was pegged by Forbes as the third highest-earning celebrity on Earth, mostly thanks to his clothing and footwear line alongside adidas (which is expected to move half of Jordan Brand’s $3 billion USD revenue this year), effectively creating one of the most successful enterprises in fashion.

The video begins with the interviewer, Zack O’Malley Greenburg, sitting down with Kanye in a one-on-one interview, where West dissects various inspirations for his designs including 3000-year-old architecture, the Old Testament. In particular, Ye dissects why his clothing employs a singular material within each garment, referencing a Bible verse that depicts his reasoning. Later, Kanye is shown surrounded by various YEEZY footwear prototypes, touching on a variety of topics from the reasons for his color choices to how Akira and the Lamborghini Countach influence his creative direction.

You can watch the full clip in the video above.

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During the process of creating the #Celeb100 cover story featuring Kanye West, Forbes’ director of photography, Robyn Selman, asked West if he had any original art that he would like to include. This is what he hand-mailed, postmarked from Tokyo. It is West’s visual interpretation of his creative process, showing a sketch of his family – his wife, Kim Kardashian West, and their four children (North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm), with “All That Matters” written above. He sent an initial version, then sent a revised one. In the revised version (above), he made sure to include Sushi, the family dog. As a family man, West cites many influences for his creativity, most notably the Bible and his religious beliefs. Read the full cover story about how that inspiration grew into a billion-dollar brand at the ? in our bio.

A post shared by Forbes (@forbes) on Jul 9, 2019 at 1:17pm PDT