There’s much ado about Ye and Julia Fox
THE ingénue. Beloved (and sometimes despised) by many in Hollywood. She’s the young (okay, not always) newcomer that everyone wants a piece of, but can’t get. Plucked from relative obscurity to super stardom, her name is instantly added to the lexicon of people you just must know.
And that is exactly what has happened to Julia Fox. She scored a seat among the heavy-hitters at the couture shows in Paris. Ms Fox’s trajectory is mind-boggling. But no one is surprised when you think about it – this is celebrity theatre at its finest and we are all lapping it up as intended.
I’ll be the first to admit I did not know who Julia Fox was until she was suddenly everywhere. Page Six, TMZ, The Shade Room and all the other tabloid sites and blogs have written about her. They couldn’t get enough of her. And she of them.
Of course, it’s expected when you are rapper Kanye West’s or, as he is known now, Ye’s, arm candy.
Now it’s not only the rags and Instagram’s gossip account, Deuxmoi, writing about her, but the sophisticated, high-class publications that would have ordinarily ignored her.
When I saw images of Fox and Ye sitting front row at the Schiaparelli Haute Couture Show on Monday morning, I knew that she had been officially baptised in the waters of high fashion. For Daniel Roseberry’s latest show for Schiaparelli, she wore dominatrix black – a leather two-piece with stockings, boots and gold accessories by the brand.
And then I saw the pictures of both of them at the Kenzo Men’s AW 2022 show on Sunday, in matching denim looks. In what was a sign of things to come, Ms Fox was wearing a denim Schiaparelli cropped jacket with conical bust, à la Jean Paul Gaultier’s famous bra top worn by Madonna. She paired it with low rise jeans and denim boots. She wore gold earrings by Schiaparelli.
And then a picture of the duo with Rick Owens and Michèle Lamy surfaced online, where she wore ruched silver boots by Balenciaga under a red leather dress and an oversized black leather jacket, stylishly hanging off her shoulder, while sexily slouching back onto Ye. The outfit designer? Rick Owens.
And her eye-catching make-up? Done by the make-up artist to the stars and iconic beauty entrepreneur, Pat Mcgrath.
I first sighed, rolling my eyes at the ridiculousness of it all. And then I perked up. I suddenly realised that this was a game, a high stakes game of fame that Ye and Ms Fox were playing – and everyone was playing right into their hands and lapping it up.
Now think about it. A few weeks ago, few of us even knew who Fox was. Besides those sudden superfans who claim she was amazing on Adam Sandler’s Uncut Gems – which earned her a nomination for the Breakthrough Actor Award at the 2019 Gotham Awards – besingamazi nomazi unono!
A few weeks ago, they were spotted with Madonna and soon there were rumours that she was being considered for a role in the biopic on the singer, and will apparently be playing Madonna’s close friend, Debi Mazar (Younger).
And Ye is using all this fascination with his new lady love to kind of make us forget (and likely for him to deal with) his divorce from Kim Kardashian.
The weird thing, however, is how Fox is now his muse. Like Kardashian before her, he is dressing her in brands of designers he is friends with, introducing her to his world of high fashion – and where better than Haute Couture Week?
We have seen this before. Ye and Kardashian started dating in 2012 and he had her wear his collection at his Paris Fashion Week show. The one widely panned by critics, and which gave us those ugly pearl and fur high heels. Two years later, with Kardashian now fully evolved into Ye’s muse and a high fashion goddess, they stormed couture week, leaving fashion houses upset, thanks to them being the centre of attention and not the clothes showcased.
And now Ye and Ms Fox are likely the most photographed couple at Haute Couture Week and for fans of gossip, we are, as Gen Z says, eating it up.
See, it’s fun, frivolous and no harm is being done. Even with all the deaths currently hanging over the fashion industry, with the passing of André Leon Talley and Manfred Thierry Mugler, their antics are keeping us entertained.
The Kardashian-west divorce is sort of like a dramatic fashion theatre piece. In the middle of everything is Demna Gvasalia, friend of Ye and head designer at Balenciaga. Both Ye and Kardashian have almost exclusively worn the brand since their separation and now Ms Fox is in her bag, getting decked out in the brand’s finest garments by Ye.
When they attended the Slave Play show in New York City in the first week of the year, and then went on a dinner date to Julia’s “favourite” restaurant, Carbone, Ye had a big surprise up his sleeve.
Speaking for the first time about their time together, Julia told Interview Magazine.com: “I met Ye in Miami on New Year’s Eve and it was an instant connection. His energy is so fun to be around. He had me and my friends laughing, dancing and smiling all night. We decided to keep the energy going and fly back to New York City to see Slave Play.
“At the restaurant, Ye directed an entire photoshoot for me while people dined! The whole restaurant loved it and cheered us on while it was happening.”
And then the Demnafication of Ms Fox began.
“Ye had an entire hotel suite full of clothes. It was like a little girl’s dream come true. A true Cinderella moment. I don’t know how he did it or how he got all those clothes in time. But I was so surprised. Like, who does stuff like that on a second date? Or on any date!
“Only a few days after meeting him, I put all my things in boxes. It was so cathartic. It wasn’t like I was packing up my old clothes, it was like I was packing up my old life. It was as if I had made a conscious decision to put everything away, to let go of the past.”
Sure, there’s much ado about the couple, but they are clearly keeping us talking and entertained.
On her podcast, Forbidden Fruits, Ms Fox recently said she is not dating the rapper for fame or money.
“People are like ‘Oh, you’re only in it for the fame. You’re in it for the clout. You’re in it for the money.’ Honey, I’ve dated billionaires my entire adult life. Let’s keep it real."
“It’s funny cause I’m getting all of this attention, but I really couldn’t care,” Fox also said on the podcast, adding that her current intention is to continue creating art and “putting things into the world”.
“Watch my movie. Read my book. That is more thrilling to me now than eyes on me. I couldn’t care less,” she continued.
Louis Pissano, the fashion media industry's current enfant terrible, said it best on Twitter: “Foxye is its own industrial complex where everyone benefits. Brands get their exposure, publications get their clicks, Foxye (or as they prefer, Juliye) dominates the headlines, journalists get access.”
Game, set and match.