Black Dogs – Style

At the end of 2023, Kanye West announced that designer Gosha Rubchinskiy would lead the YZY clothing and accessories brand. Before this, West himself was responsible for all design decisions – he was noted for his work on the legendary adidas Yeezy Boost sneakers, and also made several collections of both his own brand and collaborations with other brands (for example, with GAP).

After Rubchinsky’s appointment, opinions were divided. Some said that this was a breath of fresh air for the brand, while others argued that the duet of West and Rubchinsky was a union of two controversial artists, inappropriate in the modern cultural situation. Let us recall that Gosha Rubchinsky closed his brand in 2018, at the same time he got into a scandal related to harassment. Kanye was involved in several scandals, the most notorious of which were accusations of anti-Semitism in 2023.

Rubchinsky’s first collection for YZY was released almost two months after his appointment. It included a T-shirt, hoodie, sweatpants and socks. The first drop was conceived as a full-fledged set – that is, you can wear items from the collection as a suit (adding only shoes to it).

The collection has two features. The first is the price. Contrary to expectations, items from the line are sold at a more than affordable price of $20. Also with his project with GAP, Kanye tried to create high-quality and culturally relevant clothing that would be affordable. It’s clear that at YZY he continues this social trend – fashionable things don’t have to be expensive. The second feature of the collection is the Cyrillic alphabet. All items are decorated with the inscription “Black Dogs”, made in the Old Slavonic style. In his works, Rubchinsky always paid tribute to the cultural heritage of post-Soviet Russia and the YZY line was no exception. Kanye West is known for his desire to shock and see a thing with a Cyrillic print in the modern cultural climate – at least unexpectedly.

Like everything West and Rubchinsky do, the Black Dogs collection immediately became a sensation. Obviously, this duo has a great future and, despite the ambiguity of both artists, their collections will definitely be popular. It’s interesting that all of West’s things usually flew away in a matter of hours. At the time of writing, the entire Black Dogs line is available on the YZY website. What is this – a boycott of Rubchinsky and West by the fashion community or such a serious production volume that anyone can buy these clothes without turning to resellers?

Ilya Petruk