Balenciaga Cuts Ties with Kanye West

After publishing their third-quarter results, Balenciaga has announced that they are severing ties with Ye.

Ye's chapter with Balenciaga has closed. On Friday (October 21), the luxury brand announced that the former collaborators have parted ways, although a reason was not given. According to WWD, the French fashion house Kering released a statement saying they no longer any relationship nor "any plans for future projects related to this artist."

The decision comes after Ye has been on a controversial run this month, displaying a 'White Lives Matter' t-shirt during his YZY fashion show held during Paris Fashion Week. The shirts have since been passed out to the homeless in Los Angeles' Skid Row. Following the runway show, the Donda 2 artist has made anti-Semitic remarks on social media, and talk shows including Drink Champs, Tucker Carlson Tonight and LeBron James' The Shop, which have either been pulled or unaired.

Ye and Balenciaga have had a long history, with the rapper-producer becoming one of the brand's ambassadors and partnering with them for a Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga collection. The company has also become the first to drop the artist formerly known as Kanye West amid controversy.

“It is a vision come true to work with Gap and Demna, the creative director of Balenciaga, to make incredible product available to everyone at all times,” Ye told Vogue in January.

Ye last opened the Balenciaga Summer 2023 runway show during Paris Fashion Week, appropriately titled "The Mud Show," as models walked through a warehouse filled with mud.