I Feel Like Pablo

The Life of Pablo pop up shops were all over the country this summer! But when you live in the middle of nowhere, in what is deemed as a flyover state, celebrities don't even bother to come to town. Thankfully, a friend of a friend who lived in the city of a TLOP pop up shop was kind enough to purchase not one, but two shirts for me, so I could best channel my inner Kardashian!

Because I never actually experienced a TLOP pop up shop, I can't tell you about the products they sold, but I do know that Kanye sold shirts with the corresponding name of the city depending on where the shop was located. For example. One of my shirts says Los Angeles on the front, and No More Parties in LA on the back, meaning that it was sold at the LA pop up shop. I'm also not sure if the merchandise from the pop up shops is the same merchandise sold during his tour, or how much the merchandise cost because both shirts were gifted to me, but I'm assuming they were around the price of normal concert tour merchandise.

The front of my shirt I am wearing in this look says, "I Feel Like Pablo," and is the same exact shirt Kanye West wore to his The Life of Pablo listening party back in February. The back of my shirt says "We On an Ultralight Beam, This is a God Dream" which are lyrics from Kanye West's song Ultralight Beam. The shirt features what I would call Century Gothic print, and is in a bright, poppy red print.

To dress down the shirt, I paired it with a pair of ripped boyfriend jeans from Forever 21 that I purchased for about $5.00 on sale, and paired it with a pair of shoes from Windsor, a popular clothing store in the Midwest, North and South of the country. When I wore these shoes om my campus it stored some controversy that I was wearing fake shoes and/or trying to pretend that they were real (Yeezys). When designers make any type of shoe, clothing, purse etc. it will always eventually be duped to become a ready to wear piece in a clothing store. Public Desire sells more perspex products than just about any other shoe store, and they are all Yeezy Season 1-4 inspired products. The increase of bomber jackets in clothing this Autumn/Winter is a direct result of what Kanye showed at his fashion show this past Spring. Balmain style bags are sold at Charming Charlie's and Aldo. FashionNova.com sells dresses inspired by Balmain's Spring fashion show, and missguided.com has an entire tab dedicated to Casualwear similar to that designed by Kanye West. That being said everything is duped in this day and age. That being said, are my shoes from Windsor dupes? Yes. Are they pretty close to the Yeezy design and pattern? Yes. Are they fake? No, because they're from a well known clothing store. Are they also made in China just like Kanye's Yeezy shoe? Yes. They might even have been produced in the same factory for all I know. There's some reason that so many identical duped versions of tbe shoe come out of China just take a look at Amazon.com.

With that being said, there's never a need to laugh or make fun of someone for what they are wearing. Fashion is a way to express yourself. I've never been a label junkie, and felt the need to stunt on everyone else with a Louis Vuitton bag, Good American Jeans and Uggs just to show the world you have "money". Could I buy the Yeezy Boost 350s? Absolutely, I drive a 328 xi BMW and have more than enough money to buy whatever I please. But I wear what I want, and I wear what I like, and that's more than enough of an explanation I need to give you if you need to question what is on my feet.

Worry about yourself, baby girl.

-Chelsea Nicole, The Mod Little Melanin 💋