Who Designed The Clothing Line For Kanye’s ‘T.L.O.P.’?

It may be quite a surprise to read a headline as such; that Kanye West, the self-proclaimed king of fashion in the Hip-Hop world, WAS NOT the sole designer behind the merchandise for his latest album, ‘The Life of Pablo’. You almost feel as though this can’t be right, but Mr. West is somewhat notorious for doing this in the past: assembling a team of creative minds and panelists to bounce ideas off of or do the work for him, whether it be designing clothes, cover art, or the production for a new record. It’s isn’t so much a con as it is a perfectionist trying to assess all of his options and make use of the resources at hand. Nonetheless, let’s take a look at who exactly was responsible for the making of these fresh, new pieces of gear.

Ein von @virgilabloh gepostetes Foto am 11. Feb 2016 um 11:27 Uhr

5 days prior to the Madison Square Garden event unveiling his new work, Kanye had apparently reached out to Los Angeles-based artist Cali Thornhill DeWitt, who had been roaming the populated streets of Tokyo at the time, to grind out the now-infamous pieces of ‘TLOP’ apparel. This wasn’t something done at random, though. DeWitt had already been commissioned to design sweaters for Kanye’s network of designers at DONDA—a creative content company founded by Yeezy himself, named after his mother, Donda West.

 Cali Thornhill Dewitt, Image courtesy of Lukas White Gansterer

Before that though, DeWitt was introduced to the inner circle by collaborating with Virgil Abloh—another one of Kanye’s designer geniuses—to create a series of ‘Off White’ t-shirts for an installation at Dover Street Market Ginza in Japan.

 Off white collaboration, Photo Courtesy of Virgil Abloh

“I didn’t come out and say that I did it. I didn’t come out and say that I didn’t do it. But everyone who hit me up for interviews, I just told them, ‘No, thanks.” because to me, it’s a symptom of the times. People wanna be known so much, you know?”

That is what DeWitt had to say regarding the public discovering his madness behind the Yeezy Season 3 clothing line. The 43-year-old designer is known to be an introvert when it comes to his artwork, despite being apart of projects that many would consider to be more than a ‘big-deal’ for American pop culture. He was a roadie on tour with Courtney Love’s band Hole, as well as a babysitter to Love and Kurt Cobain’s daughter, Frances Bean Cobain. He even appeared on the CD of Nirvana’s album In Utero. DeWitt was also responsible for shedding light onto L.A.’s underground arts scene in the early 2000’s by starting the record label ‘Teenage Teardrops’ and cofounding the ‘Hope Gallery’ in Echo Park.

It’s been months now since the release of Kanye’s ‘T.L.O.P.’ album and clothing line, so it’s no question that DeWitt has kept busy with a handful of other ventures throughout the season. Just this past June he hosted an art show at the V1 Gallery in Copenhagen, Denmark producing 30 American flags with text on them highlighting numerous incredible moments in America’s history. He’s also been working with studio mate James Rockin on top-secret photography of their silk-screened tee shirts to be released for publication in a friend’s magazine named ‘Stealth’ based out of Milan, Italy. Stay tuned.

Busted On The Hot Spots – an exhibition by Cali Thornhill Dewitt

Photo courtesy of Jan Søndergaard

Image Slider: Taylor Jewell