High fashion enforced exclusionary barriers against Kanye in 2009

Evidence

Kanye’s ambition extended beyond music. He teased his own fashion label, Pastelle, though it never came to fruition, and scored a hit sneaker collaboration with Louis Vuitton. His goal, however, was to gain entry into the world of high fashion. In January 2009, Kanye and his Chicago entourage attended Paris Fashion Week only to be turned away from many collections. Seeking attention, he enlisted street photographer Tommy Ton to shoot his crew outside Comme des Garçons’ show. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 361

Categorization

• QUESTION: The reader could ask whether this 2009 exclusion contradicts or simply precedes the later flattening; this is a useful marker of when the old gatekeeping still held.