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I also think one thing that gets overlooked is Kanye actual institutional knowledge of fashion. Dude dropped out of art school and spent a good amount of his musical career working on a fashion career. He did tons of work to foster Pastelle long before before Yeezy was ever a thing. Also, he interned at Fendi with Virgil so there was definitely some experience he gained from that. He spent his career building networks, etc. with the fashion world and leveraging his celeb status to do so (even Anna W. attended YZYS9, for example).
I honestly can't think of any other popular musician that was ever this dedicated to entering the fashion world tbh. This all ended up being a fantastic idea from Ye's perspective since there is 0 chance he would be anywhere as rich as he is without establishing Yeezy as the brand that it is.-there is no way he would have this kind of success with music alone, regardless of how good his music is.
This is a good summary regarding his influence. Kanye is a designer / trend setter. Drake, G unit, etc. - they are just "athletes" (or artists) that Nike and other brands use to bring people in. They don't care about the designs, they aren't innovating or creating new models - just picking colors on existing models, etc.
As crazy as this mf is... he still has influence and vision. Everyone clowned the yeezy slides when they first came out, talking about prison shower slides etc. But guess what, they've been replicated and influenced multiple other brands to create their own slides of the same oversized style. And the similar "earth tone" colorways. And the single molded foam itself. Now you have similar options from Fear of God, Crocs, Urban Outfitters, etc. Kind of similar with the Foam Rnnrs though you could argue that Crocs themselves started that wave and really picked up "streetwear" hype with the Salehe Bembury models (of which, Salehe is a Yeezy brand protege).
People clowned the Waverunners when those originally dropped on YS. "Dad shoes" etc - guess what? Dad shoes have been flying off the shelves from every single manufacturer for the last 3+ years now.
Even the powerphases... some busted *** lowcut Reeboks from the 80's. Now New Balance 550s and other retro runners are hot ****, having collabs with ALD and other "fashion" brands. Part of this build up was also the reintroduction of 90's styles (baggier clothes, Nike dunks, etc.) but hard to say that Kanye didn't have some vision a few years ago.
Not saying Kanye is single-handedly responsible for these styles or anything, but its hard to say he has no influence. Usually he comes out with something, everyone clowns it... but then it creeps into other brands/styles and the becomes normalized. I'm not even sure if there is another person with as much influence as him in regards to shoes and style. Not that his style is the best (he still wears some weird fits), but what other single individual could bring the hype that he does?