Kanye’s Trail of Failure

Kanye West has hit a rough patch. The man who has said more than once that he ranks himself right up there with Walt Disney, Steve Jobs and Picasso is now falling short of his mark of reaching historical status as an innovator and artist — this week, anyway.

It was an “utter disaster,” said the New York Post.

His recent New York fashion show was dubbed a “hot mess” — literally, as models dropped in the heat — and figuratively, in that it wasn’t well-received. There’s buzz that fashion editors are calling for a boycott of Yeezy, and one site accused him of exploiting his fame to mistreat his models.

On top of all that, his rapper protege, Desiigner — real name: Sidney Royel Selby III — was charged last week with felony counts of criminal possession of a weapon, menacing and possession of a controlled substance. Desiigner was among five people arrested Thursday night in New York City after a road-rage incident outside the Lincoln Tunnel.

On Saturday, after the felonies against Desiigner were dropped, the rapper was arraigned on misdemeanor drug possession and menacing charges.

Brooklyn-based Desiigner was signed by Kanye to the G.O.O.D. record label in February and was nominated for a Grammy that same month for Best New Artist. Desiigner was in the front row Wednesday at Kanye’s ill-fated “Yeezy Season 4” fashion show.

The trouble began with the heat. Kanye decided to move his fashion extravaganza outside on Roosevelt Island. Because of the high temps, his models were passing out and stumbling down the makeshift runway.

Angry guests were trapped on buses waiting for the show, which started two hours late.

Finally, it seems that Kanye’s Army Surplus-style clothes, in neutral colors and see-through materials, were seen as The Emperor’s New Clothes. In other words — why has everyone been praising his fashion line all this time?

“If you could get past all the distractions, the new Yeezus line is, in a word, horrendous,” wrote Acculturated.com.

It was an “utter disaster,” said The New York Post.

UsMagazine.com noted that a model in a sheer, light-colored dress got so frustrated with her clumsy shoes, she kicked them off and stomped away in her bare feet.

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Stella Bugbee, editorial director at The Cut, didn’t mince words. “Most awful thing I have ever seen at #NYFW,” she tweeted, adding: “This is shameful and horrible and I regret coming. #YeezySeason4.”

She added, “I’d like to see Kanye  … stand in the hot sun in nude leotards for three hours.”

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Noted New York magazine: “West’s problems didn’t end with the heat and the fainting models, or the grimaces of girls trying to soldier on in painful boots — some of which, in clear plastic, resembled supersize condoms. The clothes were boring.”

After the show, performance artist Vanessa Beecroft, who collaborated with Kanye West on the show, told Page Six the models did not pass out because of the heat and lack of water, but because of “emotional stress.” She also said the hours-long delay was all part of West’s plan.

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After all that, Kanye performed Friday night at the Plaza Hotel during the Harper’s Bazaar Icons Ball, where he gave the crowd the middle finger in response to fashionistas trashing the fashion show, reports The New York Daily News.

“You can’t be scared to fail,” he said, before dropping the mic and exiting the stage.

And as he told Vogue 48 hours before his now-famous fashion show fail — “I’m really not here for controversy.”