A detailed history of Kanye West using clothes to control women.

Kanye 'Ye' West is having a bad few years. 

He's gotten divorced from Kim Kardashian, then lost all his brand deals after going on an anti-Semitic tirade. And now, every high and low point of his life is featured on the new Binge documentary Kim vs Kanye: The Divorce. 

The two-part special covers a lot of ground (read the biggest revelations here), but one of the most concerning moments from the documentary was the discussion around how Kanye controls his partners through fashion.

A notorious Keeping Up with the Kardashians scene is played where Kanye clears out Kim's closet in the early stages of their relationship before sending in a new wardrobe. In another tense moment, he has an extreme reaction to her 'Notes on Camp' outfit for the 2019 Met Gala, telling Kim, "You are my wife and it affects me when pictures are too sexy." 

"If you look back at photos from the Met Gala, all eyes were focused on her," entertainment reporter Dax Holt said. "He just seems scowly in the background, like he doesn't approve of what's happening."

Watch the trailer for Kim vs Kanye: The Divorce. Post continues after video.

During Kim and Kanye's six-year marriage, it became normalised to watch Kanye attempt to change his wife to fulfil his expectations. But was any of this okay? 

"If you saw this with a civilian woman... he's controlling what she wears and who she hangs out with — those are red flags," said writer Zan Romanoff.

"It's not his business how she dresses," high-conflict divorce specialist Virginia Gilbert commented in part-two of the documentary. "We see Kanye with a lack of boundaries."

But Kim was just one of several partners who got fashion revamps while dating Kanye. "This pattern of behaviour didn't just happen with Kim, it happened with Amber Rose," Gilbert noted. 

"Kanye builds his girlfriends," said entertainment journalist Jawn Murray. "He dresses her up, he parades her around, she goes where he wants her to go, and does what he wants her to do." 

In the case of Amber Rose, the couple dated from 2008 until 2010. At the time, Rose didn't agree that she dressed according to Kanye's whims. 

"We're total opposites," she told Elle in 2009. 

"He'll pick out something and I'll be like, `Oh, God, I don't like that at all.' And then I'll pick out something and he'll be like `Babe, just...no.' I'm more electric pink and bright yellow. And Kanye's more like nude and bone. Like, bone is his favourite colour. I'm like, whose favourite colour is bone?"

In the interview, Amber insisted that she was "not like his Barbie," but her changing fashion aesthetic during their relationship was evident. 

This is Amber when they first started dating in 2009. 

Amber Rose at a movie premiere. Image: Getty. 

This is Amber the year their relationship ended. 

Amber Rose at a Lingerie Fashion Show. Image: Getty. 

Since they split, Amber and Kanye's relationship has soured. 

“I have my own — I don’t want to say ‘feelings’ for him, because that sounds like it’s a positive thing for Kanye — I have my own issues and feelings, how I feel about how our relationship was,” Rose said on the It’s Tricky With Raquel Harper podcast.

When asked during an appearance on the No Jumper podcast whether she “soaked up” any of the rapper’s energy during the time together, she said “I didn’t soak up anything from him. Me and him are two very different people,” Rose replied. 

“You share two years with someone, you take them around the world, you buy them all the jewellery, you shout out to the world how much you love them and how much fun you have with this person, and then the person decides that this isn’t what they want their life to be… I opted out." 

Kanye started dating Kim Kardashian two years later, they got married in 2014, and have since welcomed four kids together. 

The change in Kim's style from pre-Kanye to post-Kanye was unmistakable. 

This is Kim at an event in 2009. 

Kim Kardashian at the opening of Dash Miami. Image: Getty.

And here she is in 2017 after she married Kanye.

Kim Kardashian at Harper's Bazaar Icons. Image: Getty.

Kanye made several disparaging comments about Kim's fashion sense on Keeping Up With the Kardashians. In a 2012 episode, he told her “Babe, you really gotta clean out everything."

At the time, Kim was receptive. “Kanye has definitely inspired me to be a little bit more of an individual,” Kardashian said on the episode. “He is a fashion designer, and he loves clothes so I’m excited to collaborate with him to see what his take on fashion is.”

Kanye removed Kim's old clothes, and he would then send in a wardrobe that he approved. 

“I walked in my room and there was an entire room filled with all new clothes and all the stuff he wanted to fill back up my closet with and it was really cool new designers –– I hadn’t even heard of some of these designers before,” Kardashian said on Live With Kelly and Michael in 2015.

In another moment of a KUWTK episode, Kim said “[Kanye] sent me a whole email, like, ‘You cannot wear big glasses anymore. It’s all about tiny little glasses... He sent me, like, millions of ’90s photos with tiny little glasses like this.”

By 2018, the transformation was complete. Kim wasn't just dressed by Kanye, she was dressed in Kanye. 

“I literally just wear all of the Yeezy samples,” she told People. “They have a team of stylists and they put it all together. I’m totally inspired by Kanye and the Yeezy team — and listen to the advice of everyone over there who is making all the clothes. I basically get this wardrobe and I don’t have to think too much about it.”

After Kim filed for divorce in 2021, Kanye had brief romantic dalliances with Russian model Irina Shayk (who was spotted wearing Yeezy and brand collaborator Balenciaga), and 22-year-old model Vinetria (who was also seen in Balenciaga). 

Then Kanye found another muse in an unlikely place: in actor and socialite, Julia Fox. 

Julia and Kanye had an extremely public romance in early 2022.

On their second date, Kanye gave her a new wardrobe. "After dinner Ye had a surprise for me. I mean, I'm still in shock. Ye had an entire hotel suite full of clothes," she said in an article for Interview.

"After meeting him, a couple days later, all my shit was in boxes, gone. It was so cathartic. It wasn't like I was just packing up my old clothes, it was like I was packing up my old life. I was making that very conscious decision to really put everything in the box. To let go of the past."

When asked in the interview what the "wildest thing he’s dreamed up," she curiously replied, "My transformation". 

This is Julia Fox in 2020 before she dated Kanye.

Julia Fox at the 92nd Academy Awards Vanity Fair Party. Image: Getty. 

This is Julia Fox in 2022 while she dated Kanye.

Julia Fox at Paris Fashion Week. Image: Getty. 

After Julia and Kanye's romance ended, the Uncut Gems star united with Amber Rose on Fox's podcast Forbidden Fruits to share their experiences with Kanye in March 2023. 

"I feel like he has always just had really lofting dreams and always kind of pushing the envelope as much as he can, pushing the boundaries — like, if you tell the man no, he is going to find a way to get yes," Julia said. 

In one moment from 2008, Rose spoke about Kanye dressing her to be his date for the Grammys. "I couldn't believe it," recalled Amber. "I was crying in the store. It was just shocking, because I had been so poor my whole life..."

Both women agreed that what they experienced from West was an example of "love bombing", which is when someone uses grand gestures (like gifting a whole new wardrobe) as a way to emotionally manipulate and abuse someone.

Kanye is currently dating mysterious Melbourne architect Bianca Censori, whose fashion has steeply changed in recent weeks. 

Here is Bianca in an old family photo (second from the left). 

Image: Instagram/@alyssia.censori.

And here is Bianca since she's been been labelled Kanye's 'wife', which is undocumented.

Image: Instagram/@yeezymafia. 

In the latest worrying photos, Bianca has been seen wearing a skin-tight nude outfit that looks like stockings.

With no prestigious fashion house to his name anymore, it's unlikely that Kanye will stop treating his partners as walking/talking mannequins in order to project his fantasies. 

Both episodes of Kim vs Kanye: The Divorce can be streamed on Binge.

Feature image: Getty.