Kanye West wears controversial ‘White Lives Matter’ jumper at Yeezy SZN9 fashion show in Paris

Kanye West hosted his Yeezy SZN9 show in Paris on Monday and all eyes were on his own outfit (Picture: Yeezy / Kanye West)

Kanye West made quite a bold choice of outfit at his latest Yeezy fashion show, donning a jumper that said ‘White Lives Matter’. 

The All Falls Down rapper hosted a presentation in Paris, France on Monday to debut his SZN9 collection. 

It came hours after Kanye, 45, hinted that some famous faces would be making an appearance at the show after sharing an Instagram post with childhood photos of the likes of Beyonce, Rihanna, Naomi Campbell and his ex-wife Kim Kardashian with the teasing caption ‘SZN9’. 

During the Paris show, Kanye appeared in the dimly lit room wearing a Black jumper with ‘White Lives Matter’ printed on the back in white font teamed with a baseball cap, while models also wore jumpers bearing the controversial slogan. 

The slogan is, of course, a spin on the Black Lives Matter movement which was started to highlight racism and discrimination and to amplify voices in the Black community. 

Kanye, who now goes by the name Ye, spoke to the audience about the struggles he faced in making a name for himself in the fashion industry, stating: ‘I am Ye, and everyone here knows that I am the leader. You can’t manage me.’ 

Kanye’s choice of outfit will no doubt cause a stir (Picture: YEEZY / KANYE WEST) Kanye gave a passionate speech at the presentation about his struggles in the industry (Picture: YEEZY / KANYE WEST)

He continued: ‘I don’t want any of y’all to talk to me about pain. I remember when me and Matt Williams were styling Rihanna 14 years ago. But tonight let’s just celebrate, let’s just enjoy this new frontier. 

‘Fashion has a tendency to be extremely classist. To say if you weren’t pretty enough, have money, or weren’t born into money or weren’t scamming, that you can’t afford this cut.’ 

Kanye went on to mention his partnership with Gap which existed until recently, when he abruptly ended his deal with the high street fashion house in a dispute over Yeezy. 

Kanye caused a stir when he wore a red MAGA hat while meeting Trump at the White House (Picture: AFP via Getty Images) Kanye has been hitting the fashion week trail hard this year (Picture: Rex Features)

The rapper’s ‘White Lives Matter’ jumper will no doubt cause a stir as Kanye has been criticised for his statements regarding the Black community in recent years. 

In 2018, he was slammed for endorsing former President Donald Trump by wearing a red Make America Great Again cap while meeting the divisive commander-in-chief at the White House. 

That same year, Kanye received immense backlash after saying African American slavery was ‘a choice’ during a rant at TMZ’s offices in California. 

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‘When you hear about slavery for 400 years … for 400 years? That sounds like a choice,’ he said, adding: ‘We’re mentally imprisoned.’ 

Kanye has been busy on the fashion circuit in recent days visiting shows at London and Paris fashion weeks.

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