Sartorial Slant on Kanye's Dark, Twisted Fantasies

The "ballerina" scarf is one of five inspired by the musical fantasies of Kanye West. Photos courtesy of M/M (Paris).

FROM Kanye West’s flights of fancy to your arm. Or neck or waist. Or both. Or wherever you please, really ... The "ballerina" and possibly four other scarves.

"Ballerina" has a teal background. At its center is a woman standing in profile, except her head, which faces the viewer. She wears a black tutu and a surprised expression. This main image, as are all on each of the five scarves, is surrounded by drawings, lettering (including some that spell out KW’s name) and other elements in a rich gold.

On a very cursory glance (but not touch), the silk twill affairs (35 × 35”/90 × 90 cm/250€) can be mistaken for an Hermes scarf. They depict characters from KW’s musical fantasies, which really are twisted and rather weird, to tell you the truth. In fairness, though, fantasies do tend to embody such characteristics. In addition to “ballerina,” the only one not sold out since the scarves went on sale last month, are “face,” “phoenix,” “power” and “priest.”

Is the "power" scarf a cautionary tale or a call for empowerment?

Before they were scarves the fantasies, painted by George Condo, existed as packaging, courtesy of M/M (Paris) for KW’s acclaimed “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” album. As these things often go, KW and M/M (Paris) saw a way to repurpose the packaging – as scarves – thus creating another commercial platform.

“Ballerina” is available for purchase at http://www.mmparis.com/. Yet, if a body must have “power,” for instance, he could write to shop@mmparis.com to have his name placed on a waitlist in case more become available.

Framed by the gold hand-drawn lettering and against a backdrop of a partly cloudy sky, the “power” scarf features a king’s severed head with the crown still attached. The head is lying in what appears to be sand and is turned on one ear with a sword embedded through it.

Fantasies indeed.

Visit http://www.mmparis.com/ to learn more about the scarves.