Is the era of musicians with fashion brands over? Yeezy's latest show seems to confirm it

Last night saw a new Yeezy show, the first after a four-year hiatus that followed the scandals surrounding founder Ye's behavior and the subsequent breakdown of relationships with long-standing partners such as adidas, Balenciaga, and Gap. The show was held in Los Angeles and featured the rapper's closest friends, with his partner Bianca Censori opening the show by reading a prayer. Against a white backdrop, the looks were predictably monochromatic and muted in color, but also included total black and total white.

The detail that stood out most about the new Yeezy collection (presented, not coincidentally, to mark the opening of a new Los Angeles store) was undoubtedly its resemblance to the brand's older drops. A few pieces aside — such as the transparent raincoat (a trend nss had covered back in 2024) and the translucent PVC boots (another trend these pages analyzed months ago) — the show confirmed the fears of everyone who, upon hearing news of the brand's return, worried it might no longer be able to keep up.

If up until the early 2020s Yeezy collections were a source of inspiration for the rapper's fans and for all the fashion brands looking to poach some of his young clientele, today it seems the roles have reversed, with Ye now looking to the fashion world for creative ideas.

The end of "celebrity brands"

Setting aside for a moment the cloud of controversy surrounding Ye — who has, for good reason, been removed from the pop culture landscape — Yeezy's latest output confirms how the industry of so-called "celebrity brands" has reached its limits. Being a rapper, an actor, or a celebrity is no longer enough to launch a brand, and you can't expect to keep one alive after a four-year standstill simply by recycling the same formulas that once made it recognizable, perhaps refreshed with a few trends spotted at Paris Fashion Week months earlier.

Streetwear has undergone profound transformations in recent years, both stylistically and in terms of values: today's young people no longer want sneakers designed by their favorite artist, but rather those from a brand they identify with politically. It's hard to imagine a rapper or artist in 2026 being able to speak to as wide an audience as Ye once did. To truly shake up streetstyle this year, what's needed is a creative capable of looking beyond their own ego to observe what's happening on the streets, pick up on what young people want, and understand what fashion says about them. The nude-toned tracksuits, for now, we'll leave to Bianca Censori.