Kanye West Explains His Too-Small Sandals

Due to what we’ll call recent developments, it’s hard to remember that, at one point, Kanye West had the vision. Just look at how his styling tricks have changed fashion, how he had the foresight to tell his wife Kim Kardashian West that she needed to get on the tiny sunglasses trend, and how the infamous Great Leather Jogger Fiasco of 2013 forever changed the course of fashion. Say what you will about Mr. West, but the man knows a thing or two about style. So when he attended his friend, rapper 2Chainz’s wedding at the Versace mansion in Miami wearing a pair of Yeezy slides that appeared to be two sizes too small, we were all confused — and understandably so.

West’s good friend and creative collaborator Virgil Abloh designed the mint green Louis Vuitton suit he was wearing with the slides and told Refinery29 that people who were making fun of the shoes missed the point. Abloh noted that West is wearing two Black designers who were finally able to get to a place where they could create things in their own image. “That’s crazy advanced,” he said of what he called “the most important outfit of recent memory.”

Though Abloh is always going to have his friend’s back, the duo behind Diet Prada poked fun at West's style choice, advertising a limited-edition commemorative tee on their Instagram Story Monday evening. ‘Ye got wind of the T-shirt, sharing it on Twitter with three crying-laughing emojis and three flames. He also took the moment to explain why his shoes were two sizes too small. West Tweeted two photos with the caption “the Japanese way,” confirming the choice was intentional. (West could have said that when he Tweeted the photo of he and Kim at the wedding on August 20, but he instead captioned it “have fun”).

But, hey, whatever you say, ‘Ye.