Back in the day, Anna Wintour was a huge Kanye West fan. I’m not sure if she still is, especially since he went full-MAGA in 2016 (and Wintour is a huge Democratic Party fundraiser). But at the start of Kanye’s fashion career, Wintour was a huge fan. She was a fan of his music too, hiring him to perform at various Vogue events over the years. I always thought that Wintour’s acceptance and promotion of Kanye within the fashion world was more about Kanye’s work and connections – he went to Paris, he studied at the ateliers, he befriended Riccardo Tisci and other rising stars in the fashion world. But what if Anna Wintour’s promotion of Kanye-the-designer was nothing more than a pay-to-play situation? What if Kanye bought Wintour’s good graces?
Kanye West paid Anna Wintour $1million to be accepted in the fashion industry, Janice Dickinson has claimed. Former model Janice alleged that Kanye, 44, “hired” the Vogue editor, 71, to “get him on his feet” when he first launched his Yeezy clothing line. Janie made the wild claims during an appearance on the Behind The Velvet Rope with David Yontef podcast.
“Look what Yeezy did with the clothing line and the footwear,” the former ANTM judge, 66, said. “Yeezy hired Anna Wintour. Gave her a million bucks to initially get him on his feet as far as colors and style wise. It sure did.”
Anna’s spokesperson denied Janice’s claims, telling The Sun: “There is no truth to this.” The Sun has also contacted Kanye’s rep for comment.
Kanye and Anna initially seemed to be on good terms, with Vogue publishing photos of his 2014 wedding to his now-ex Kim Kardashian. However, in 2016, Anna described Kanye’s Yeezy season 3 clothing line as “migrant chic”. The British journalist came under fire for using the term while explaining how she got lost in the basement at the fashion show. Meanwhile, last summer Kanye claimed Anna treated him “like he was crazy” when he signed a 10-year deal with Gap.
“Gave her a million bucks to initially get him on his feet as far as colors and style wise…” Surely that’s just describing a consultation fee for one of the biggest experts and gatekeepers in the fashion industry? It can be both and it probably is both, if what Dickinson says is true. Kanye likely paid Anna Wintour as a “consultant” to help him with the first seasons of his Yeezy lines and that consultation fee covered a lot of other stuff too, like Wintour giving her stamp of approval to all things Kanye. For a time.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Getty.
I believe this.
The look on Jay-Z’s face is priceless.
Beyonce doesn’t like impressed either.
Jay-Z has that WTF look!! I think those were his thoughts, with everyone else’s too!
The way those other two are looking at him is worse. The top pic. Like he has something to say. I had a visceral reaction to it. Three blind mice sitting there.
This Yeezy shit is too much for me already with its Jesus derivative and it’s “cool” spin. It will always be “Cheezy” in my head.
At what point does adoration of humorless knuckleheads end. His clothes suck and his sneakers look like he’s stomping ants on the moon
A friend is a PA to a very wealthy person. My friend is very discreet.
By piecing 2+2 together over the years, I have been educated about the very rich. You would not believe how much money can and does buy, from ghostwriting to great reviews on any type of anything.
Janice Dickinson gives no f*cks & I love it.
That’s the thing. She has nothing to lose.
Yes, and she is willing to go where many dare to go, and could care less!! I believe he paid her for consultation and other fees associated with getting his awful stuff put up front and center. If you could, would you?
This happened 💯.
Now I understand why Wintour put Kim & Kanye on the cover of Vogue. That cover was the reason I cancelled my subscription to Vogue!
ETA: I have always loved Janice Dickinson. I would love to have Janice Dickinson and Princess Anne both over to my house for tea at the same time!
That was when I stopped buying it as well and I haven’t missed it.
Careful. You might be mocking The Queen.
@Rice – I will leave the mocking of QEII to Anne and Janice when they come to my house for tea!
@Beth – I have not missed Vogue either. How is Harper’s Bazaar now?
Hold on, wasn’t it common knowledge at the time that Kanye paid $1m to get he and Kim on the cover? I also canceled my subscription after that. The switch over the last two decades of fashion from quality womenswear to generic, poor quality 24 hour news cycle fads has completely left a bad taste in my mouth.
Making sense now.
This doesn’t surprise me at all. His clothes are terrible, so he’d have to pay to play with no real fashion talent.
They are, they’re absolutely hideous with zero aesthetic value.
It is the ugliest line of clothing and footwear, so much so I wonder if it was done intentionally or something.
Wintour’s lost all credibility embracing the man who created that.
Agreed!
This probably happens all the time. Money talks and Anna wintor is very powerful. Big designer brands don’t get access to her unless the pay big. It might not be a one million pound cheque, but even just buying ad space in vogue and things like that, otherwise she wouldn’t give them the time of day. When has she supported small brands?
It’s like celebs turning up to fashion shows, they are paid to actually be there, the don’t just turn up. No one powerful shows support for free.
Anna Winter needs to go. Fashion changes at the blink of an eye and she has gotten stale. They need to a rotation process to get fresh blood in and keep it fresh. For a “forward fashion” magazine, their EIC is long outgrown her shelf life. Now that is something to think about.
Here is what I can’t get past. For a style maven, Anna Wintour has ridiculously bad personal fashion. The green striped dress above is fine but what is going on with that fake fur coat above? It is soooo hard to take her judgment serious when she is wearing bad fake fur with glasses so dark she could watch the solar eclipse. It’s like she doctors flea market finds and just dares us to call her out on it.
No wonder they named their daughter “North West”. Anna approved the name and thought it was great while the internet was making fun of them for even entertaining the name. Makes sense now.
I TOTALLY believe this.
And Kim’s hair loos SO GOOD shoulder length with a side part. I don’t understand why she insists on long hair and severe middle part, which just brings attention to all the work she had done on her face.
Does not surprise me at all.
Notice how KK is staring directly into the camera. Always the fame****e!!!!!