Skinny Jeans - Wake Up (to) Mr West

To begin: an apology. Boys, it’s true - you really have been left out in the cold as far as column inches go, for as many months as the fashion section has been up and strutting. Therefore, in the interests of righting the imbalance of countless months of girl-centric fashion coverage, the entire November section is devoted to you: boys, boys, and more boys. Behold! A menswear shoot; the section’s first male-authored article; and here in Skinny Jeans, the return to the We Like Your Style high-five format, offered up to a man whose fashion sense is locked down beyond any Yale we’ve ever had on our LV keychain. Gentlemen, I give you Kanye West*.
An innovator, a risk-taker and a serial style champ, Mr West’s eclectic, composite sound and retreat from the hypermasculinities of rap are samples drawn from the same playlist as his fashion sense. As the man himself has oft observed in interview, his musical distinction from the mainstream, low-slung, XXL, hip hop underground is exemplified by the fact that his clothes fit. Simply put? Kanye is hip hop – but neater.
And don’t be fooled by what you think you know of the Kanye style formula. The slatted glasses and ultraviolet accented sweatsuits are stage-wear, on the whole; and besides, if you had an adoring, packed-out arena to play to every night, who wouldn’t choose to dress like a superhero?
Off duty, Clark Kent Kanye is in abundant possession of the lynchpin of true style - the art of appearing not to give a shit when clearly having given several – sporting ensembles that consistently whisper ‘fashion groupie’, rather than squealing ‘fashion victim’. And as a seemingly permanent fixture in the front row of the couture shows of New York, Milan, and Paris; Kanye’s groupie status is scarcely in question.
With his own, long-awaited label, Pastelle, apparently finally on its way to department store shelves next year (having been in the works since ’05), Kanye’s style, like his sounds, is a heady fusion of external influences, mashed up and made new. Part Ralph Lauren, All-American preppy, part Jean-Luc Godard hero, part street, part GQ centerfold; the Kanye West style vibe is studied and specific, never fussy, and always immaculate. Yes, here’s the rub, my friends: the key to Kanye is in his attention to detail – experimentation may be the fuel, but it’s the fit and the finish that really revs the style engine. For it’s that pinch of preppy precision and the fashion industry anoraking, that really makes Kanye something special.
As a result, in order to lean over and copy Kanye’s A+ style average, your homework is to scour Google images for shots of the man in those front rows, and to complete the following six steps. Thank you, and you’re welcome.

1. Get a tailor. (Both Stitch ‘n’ Go and your mother count.)
2. Pick a Casio G-Shock over an iced-out, big-deal watch – even if you could afford a Jacob-the-Jeweller, they’re terribly Usher, c.1995.
3. Keep your trainers clean. If you were Kanye, you’d buy new ones when yours were dirty, but 'til you hit it big, a toothbrush and Oxyclean will have to suffice.
4. Non-prescription, NHS-style faux specs are only uncool if you wear them sans swagger.
5. Invest in one big name, designer accessory to wear with everything.
6. Extra bonus points for wearing anything by Tom Ford.

*Sadly no relation. But that’s not what I’ll be telling the bouncers at the SECC…