“Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’ma let you finish… But Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.”
Kanye West is known just as much for his petulant outbursts as he is for, well, pretty much anything else he’s ever done be it producing music or designing clothes. If you were alive in 2009 you’ll instantly recognise the above quote without the need for explanation; such a blip in the annals of pop culture did the MTV Awards moment make.
So what does all this seeming divergence have to do with the accompanying shoot by Sanjog Rai of model Alejandro Sanjuan who, admittedly, bears little resemblance to the hapless Mr West?
Rai’s shoot cites Kanye as a key source of inspiration. It’s title will give you an inkling of why. Man Child. It’s about the child within us all, the child that likes to play dress-ups and have the occasional unscripted outburst. “We wanted to show a childish version of a successful grown up man,” says Rai. To that end the styling by Jacky Parker Jiao mixes playful colour and print with the ostentatiousness of all-out luxury. Bring on the Louis Vuitton bags, the plush furs, and the Jeremy Scott for Adidas winged sneakers.
Mixing the sophisticated with the fun, Sanjog Rai‘s shoot can be seen in full at the gallery above.
