YStyle Picks

All hail yeezus

MANILA, Philippines - The only person capable of stealing North West’s thunder is her father, Kanye. Shortly after releasing “Yeezus” this month, Kanye appears on the cover for W where he drops delightful sound bites, such as “I’m the number-one living and breathing rock star. I am Axl Rose; I am Jim Morrison; I am Jimi Hendrix. You can’t say that you love music and then say that Kanye West can’t come to your show,” in response to a designer who reportedly invited him to watch his fashion show, while banning him from watching other shows. He also allows us to live vicariously through him by insulting Kris Jenner to her face after she tells him “Great job!” after listening to some unfinished songs. “Great job, Baccarat, for making a glass that can hold liquid! Great job, belt loops, for keeping my pants up!” he responds. He also talks about past attempts at fashion design, saying, “The first collection was way better than the second. It was more artful. It was 30 collections in one.” The writer Christopher Bagley also preempted his return to fashion, saying that Kanye has a “men’s capsule collection of jeans, T-shirts, and hoodies for the hip French brand to be unveiled in July.” People speculate that it’s a collaboration with his close friend, Jean Touitou, the founder of A.P.C. But perhaps Kanye’s most honest, heartfelt quote in the article was the one where he addresses his notorious arrogance: “On one end, I try to scale it back,” he says, “because I don’t want to close any of the doors needed to create the best product possible. But my ego is my drug. My drug is, ‘I’m better than all you other motherf*ckers. Kiss my ass!’”

Topknot convention

Bloggers Phil Oh of Street Peeper and Susie Lau of Style Bubble are well-known besties in the industry and, as I’ve said before, doing a clothing collab together is today’s version of getting heart-shaped BFF pendants that complete each other when you match them up. If you’re famous enough, that is. After six years of best friendship and traveling all over the world for stylish snaps to post online, Phil and Susie have decided to culminate their travels and love of fashion with an exclusive six-piece collection for Urban Outfitters. Called “Oh, Bubble!” (awww) the collection features a kimono dress, a Miao-tribe jacket, Thai ikat-print pajama pants, printed pajama blouses, and a Mexico City-embroidered bomber inspired by their travels to Mexico, Bangkok, Shanghai and Tokyo. In an interview with Refinery29, Lau singled out her favorite piece: an embroidered Mexico-themed bomber jacket. “I think it’s a very ‘Phil and Bubble’ piece that we’d both wear, probably simultaneously and with loads of different prints and pastel shades going on underneath.” The collection will be available exclusively online on June 24.

Menswear tot

It’s a little perplexing to think that we live in a world where five-year-old Alonso Mateo has more steez than you. According to The Cut, not only does the kid own designer duds, he knows how to pair “a tailor-made jacket with a Tom Ford pocket square” and “a Dior shirt, Diesel jeans, and a Gucci belt, then an AllSaints leather jacket with Gucci shades.” How Alonso is raised is completely up to his parents, Luisa Fernanda Espinosa, a freelance stylist, and her husband, who is a CEO of a private equity firm. “When we go shopping, if he wants loafers just like his daddy and I can afford them, I get them. We’re fine raising our son. He’s always polite, he’s grounded, he’s a sweet boy,” Espinosa counters to her son’s haters, who go as far as calling the five-year-old “a spoiled douchebag.” But it appears that Mateo has more fans than critics: His mother’s Instagram, where his photos appear, currently has 127,000 followers, including grown men who take style cues from him. He also has five fan accounts dedicated to him. There are also 230,000 photos of him catalogued on Google, which, according to The Cut, is more than some B-list celebs. But it looks as though he could very well have his own IG account: He takes selfies in front of a mirror using either his iPad 2 or his less #OOTD-obstructive iPod. It looks like Suri Cruise has found her soulmate.

Coach surfing

And the man who has been selected to fill in Reed Krakoff’s post at Coach after 16 years is: Stuart Vevers, the current creative director for Spanish luxury leather company Loewe. Apparently Vevers was a dark horse — in fact, he wasn’t even on WWD’s list of potential candidates, which included Mulberry’s Emma Hill and Marc Jacobs. However, Vevers appears to more than cut out for the position, given his extensive experience in designing accessories. Before Emma Hill, he was the creative director at Mulberry and is credited with turning it into an “it” brand. He has also held posts at Calvin Klein, Bottega Veneta, Givenchy and Louis Vuitton. In 2006, he took home the British Council’s Accessory Designer of the Year award. In an interview with WWD, Coach’s president and chief commercial officer, Victor Luis, who will take over CEO Lew Frankfort in January 2014, said, “Stuart is recognized as one of the world’s leading accessories designers. His passion, leadership skills and broad luxury brand experience, focused on leather goods, uniquely qualify him to lead the next chapter of Coach.”

Industry shake-up

Delphine Arnault, the daughter of LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, is reportedly transitioning from being the deputy general manager of Dior to holding the same position at Louis Vuitton. Her brother, Antoine Arnault, is currently the CEO of Berluti, a luxury footwear label. While it isn’t news that the children of a rich tycoon are learning the ropes of the family business, the move coincides with the renegotiation of Marc Jacobs’ contract with Vuitton in 2014. Insiders say that Delphine and Marc have a close relationship, and given the rumors that Jacobs is ready to leave LV to focus on his eponymous label and possibly, go public with his $1-billion company, the timing is interesting. But if Arnault doesn’t manage to pursuade Jacobs to stay, she wouldn’t be without a back-up plan: Already there is speculation that former Balenciaga creative director Nicholas Ghesquière is the “heir apparent” to LV, according to WWD.