Kanye West isn't joking around about his passion for fashion.
After debuting his first fashion show in partnership with Adidas during New York Fashion Week, the "Only One" rapper sat down with New York Times' fashion magazine, T, to talk about everything from his inspirations to what people can expect next from the rapper-fashion designer. He even dished what it was like to meet his fashion idol, Ralph Lauren.
If fans of the musician thought this would be a brief foray into a different career, they'd be wrong. West asserted he has been dreaming about making it in the industry since he was just a young boy growing up in Chicago. "I dreamed, since I was a little kid, of having my own store where I could curate every shoe, sweatshirt and color," he told T. "I have sketches of it. I cried over the idea of having my own store."
His strong emotions since then haven't changed much, as he has put on several public displays of anger, including his famous run-in with Taylor Swift at the VMAs and two violent incidents with paparazzi, which resulted in court-ordered anger management. But he told the magazine that marriage has changed him—and his attitude—for the better.
"I feel like now I have an amazing wife, a super-smart child and the opportunity to create in two major fields," he said. "Before I had those outlets, my ego was all I had." He also revealed that he talks to his anger management doctor "all the time."
But his ego hasn't been tempered completely. In an analogy comparing his ego to a piece of furniture, West admitted that it would always be there...even just a little bit. "I have this table in my new house," West explained. "They put this table in without asking. It was some weird nouveau riche marble table, and I hated it. But it was literally so heavy that it took a crane to move it. We would try to set up different things around it, but it never really worked.
"I realized that table was my ego," he summarized. "No matter what you put around it, under it, no matter who photographed it, the douchebaggery would always come through."
But with his collection finally debuting at NYFW, West was not only able to make his mark as a serious designer entering the fashion world but was also able to meet and work with his longtime idol, Lauren.
In an Instagram photo that showed the two men meeting, Lauren placed his hand on West's cheek. "Do you know what he said when he did that? 'This is my son,'" West said. "And I was thinking, 'I knew it! I knew Ralph was my daddy!'"