Kanye West, who’s spending money like it’s going out of fashion, has been reaching out to heavyweights in the fashion business to back his Yeezy clothing line to the tune of $100 million, sources exclusively tell Page Six.
West has reached out to the top investors and firms in the fashion and luxury goods sector, including LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault, Richemont and Chris Burch, who helped launch Tory Burch’s fashion line and later started C. Wonder.
West also hired troubled firm Relativity’s fashion arm last year to help him find a big-money backer for his fashion label. Unfortunately, Relativity Fashion was shuttered when the company filed for Chapter 11 in July last year.
A source told us, “Kanye is spending a lot of money. He thinks on a big scale and is currently paying for everything himself. He needs a backer to help him achieve the kind of fashion-world domination he is aiming for.”
West — who’s putting on an ambitious Madison Square Garden show on Thursday to debut his Yeezy Season 3 collection and new album “T.L.O.P.” together as part of Fashion Week — said in a 2013 Sirius interview that his plans are on an epic scale.
“I am Warhol,” he declared. “I am the No. 1 most impactful artist of our generation. I am Shakespeare in the flesh. Walt Disney, Nike, Google — now who’s going to be the Medici family and stand up and let me create more, or do you want to marginalize me until I’m out of my moment? . . . I’m going to be the Tupac [Shakur] of clothing.” He went on to declare that he was going to be the “first hip-hop designer, and because of that I’m gonna be bigger than Walmart.”
He has a deal with Adidas to sell his Yeezy sneakers after an ugly falling out with Nike.
A source close to Kanye said, “He has defied a lot of doubters with what he has done. He has been a huge success in fashion, particularly what he does with Adidas. He has big plans and he’s met with a lot of people in different fashion houses and those with venture capital money in Silicon Valley.” His rep declined to comment.