Image : Backgrid/KanyeHellholeTwitter Ten days ago, Kanye West and his beloved wife Kim Kardashian West , who has seemingly swapped everything out of her closet for their iterations in rubber latex , showed up to 2 Chainz (Tauheed Epps) and Nakesha Ward’s wedding in outfits that rudely, yet rightfully so, took up all the headlines. Advertisement If you recall, Epps famously proposed to Ward on the Met Gala steps during the red carpet. The moment was iconic, as was their wedding, which took place at the Versace mansion. Image : Backgrid Yet Kimye’s ensembles were examples of the duo making full use of any opportunity to promote themselves, garner all possible attention, and push their brands forward: her in a lime-green latex dress, Kanye in a grey suit and velcro chanclas. Images of West’s under sized and overpriced Yeezy nylon slippers immediately spread on Twitter, and turned into a meme. Evidently, the $150 slide s were about a size too petite for his foot. More than a week later, West is claiming he intentionally opted for that fit, claiming it’s the “Japanese way.” To which I, and just about everyone else, says: “YEAH, OK.” Traditional Japanese geta and zori slippers are wooden sandals that come in different heights and styles. They are typically used for added height and balance when wearing kimonos, and are supposed to be worn slightly small so that the person wearing them remains level and stable–particularly for styles that have teeth on the sole. Advertisement Not only was West wearing NYLON SLIPS, and thus unable to apply this reasoning here—it took him TEN days to come up with this back-of-the-gutter excuse. Kanye, OK!<doc-sep>Kanye West is defending his fashion choices after his wife and the rest of the Internet made fun of the rapper for wearing his Yeezy slides in a size too small. Kim Kardashian posted a video to her Instagram story in which she zooms in on her husband's shoes, laughing as she jokes, "The real question is, do those fit?” “That’s what everyone wants to know," she continued. "What size are those?" West also received some flak for a similarly tiny pair of slides that he wore to 2 Chainz's wedding in Miami.<doc-sep>West tries to reinvent the world of footwear with a trick the Japanese have been using for centuries, but his comments aren’t entirely accurate. For all his fame and success, American rapper Kanye West receives a fair amount of criticism from his haters. And with his hand in so many pots, as singer, songwriter, record producer and fashion designer, there are millions of people waiting to critique his every move, down to the smallest detail. So when the 41-year-old star stepped out in a pair of Yeezy slides from his hugely successful footwear collection, the photos snapped by the hungry paparazzi caused an online sensation. And while his footwear empire, produced in collaboration with Adidas, is so popular that styles sell out as soon as they’re released, these slides turned heads for an entirely different reason. ▼ The Yeezy Season 6 Slides first appeared in stores earlier this year. West paired his new slides with a custom-made Louis Vuitton suit when he attended the wedding of 2 Chainz and Kesha Ward in Miami on 18 August, and while all eyes should have been on the bride and groom on their special day, the viewing public couldn’t tear their eyes away from the Yeezy slides on the singer’s feet, which appeared to be at least a size too small. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bmp8d5_hbVj/?hl=en&tagged=yeezyslides https://www.instagram.com/p/BmweUSLn4bq/?hl=en&tagged=yeezyslides While some might argue that there are more pressing issues to discuss here, like “Should socks ever be worn with slides?” or “Should socks with slides ever be worn with a suit?“, the gripe that people have with these images is West’s ill-fitting footwear. It wasn’t long before the Internet lit up with heated debates and memes dedicated to the singer’s small shoes. With the heels of his feet clearly hanging off the end of the slides, some suggested West might’ve borrowed the slides owned by his wife Kim Kardashian, who’d previously been spotted wearing a pair herself. https://www.instagram.com/p/BljjAgHhwYO/?hl=en&tagged=yeezyslides As people discussed the possible reasons for West’s heel-hanging style, the man himself finally attempted to silence the discussion and justify his actions with this simple tweet, saying “The Japanese way“. According to the tweet, which was posted more than a week since the photos went viral, West appears to be likening his slide-wearing style to the Japanese way of wearing traditional geta sandals. Well, he does have a point: these wooden sandals are meant to be used with the foot pushed back a little so the heel hangs off the end. In fact, it’s a topic we dedicated an entire article to back in 2016, given that it’s a little known trick to making the shoes easier to wear. ▼ The proper way to wear geta sandals. However, there’s one problem with West’s statement: “the Japanese way” of walking around with the balls of your feet hanging off the end of your shoes applies only when wearing geta, which are more like flip-flops than slides. The whole reason why the foot is pushed back in these types of traditional sandals is because the material that’s wedged between the toes at the top can cause pain and blisters, especially given that the wooden soles are heavy for the feet to lift when walking. ▼ It’s no good (“NG in Japanese”) to have the skin between your toes wedged up into the straps on a geta sandal. To avoid pain at the back half of the foot, geta should be worn with a toe-to-heel stride as opposed to the usual heel-to-toe, and the part of your foot that hangs off the end is meant to help with balance as your toes pinch the shoes as you pick them up while you walk along. So the reason why the heel hangs off the end when wearing geta is because of the style of the shoe itself. The thong section plays havoc with the toe area, the shoes are heavy, and it can be difficult to balance when you’re walking toe-to-heel. The Yeezy slides, however, are simple slip-ons that don’t cause any toe-pinching pain, and they’re not so heavy to require any special geta-wearing techniques. ▼ According to this owner of a pair Yeezy slides, the reason the heel hangs off the edge is due to slippage from the sock-and-slide combo. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bm6fIOsno7S/?hl=en&tagged=yeezyslides While the jury’s still out on whether West simply wore a shoe that was too small or whether he was really trying to mimic the Japanese style of wearing traditional footwear, one thing’s for sure: the extra publicity it’s created won’t do anything to hurt his brand. Personally, we’re hoping this all leads to a new line of Yeezy geta sandals. After visiting Japan and professing his love for the country, perhaps his new shoe collection can take its inspiration from this amazing geta-sneaker hybrid mashup. That would definitely have people talking! Source: Twitter/@kanyewest Featured image: Instagram/hypebeast_d Follow Insert images: © SoraNews24 Follow Oona on Twitter and Instagram for more Japan-related news.<doc-sep>
Suddenly, Kanye West seemed more comfortable in his footwear (Picture: Twitter.com/KanyeWest) Kanye West has answered a public outcry for a comfortable pair of shoes. The hitmaker hilariously posed in a pair of giant novelty slides on Thursday after failing miserably to defend his two-sizes too small shoes. Kanye even edited – nee, improved – a picture of himself and wife Kim Kardashian at the wedding of 2Chainz where this time, he showed up in the huge shoes instead of ridiculously small ones. ‘Are the slides big enough?’ he asked his 28million followers. Kanye also enjoyed a ‘Kim K moment’ with a changing room selfie that showed off his latest fashion statement. The rapper saw the humour in his bizarre footwear choice on Tuesday when he introduced fans to ‘the Japanese way’ of wearing shoes. The Japanese way pic.twitter.com/n1TUsVOJkA — KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) August 28, 2018 Accompanying that caption were two images of Japanese sandals that were evidently too small for the wearer, but done so deliberately. While his slides aren’t traditional Japanese footwear by any stretch of the imagination, his diagram noted ‘your heel should extend 1-2cm off the back of the wooden sole’. Kanye had the last laugh, even after his wife made fun of his curious look. Turning the camera on Kanye’s feet in her Instagram story, Kim joked last week: ‘The real question is, do those fit? That’s what everyone wants to know. What size are those?’ MORE : Taylor Swift says Reputation is about ‘finding love’ with Joe Alwyn in all the ‘noise’ as she hints that bitter diss tracks are behind her MORE : Alice Cooper believes musicians today are ‘afraid to be rockstars’ as they need ‘a little more balls’