Kanye West Launches Talent Incubator to Help Emerging Designers

Kanye West will be supporting emerging artists with a new incubator program, Vogue reports.

Kanye’s program will provide financial assistance and mentorship to budding talent in the fields of fashion and design. The first person who’s received the grant is Chicago-born, Parsons graduate Maisie Schloss, who was one part of the Yeezy womenswear design team.

“Yeezy is a really special environment for growing and developing a career. When I started I was just an assistant, but the highly creative and unconventional atmosphere allowed for me to have visibility and input in a wide variety of projects,” Schloss told Vogue. “Kanye very generously offered to support me; he truly cares about sharing resources, creating opportunities for creatives to grow and be recognized.”

Schloss will share the debut collection for her brand, Masie Wilen, in Los Angeles, and later in Paris. The capsule will include 85 pieces, ranging from $100 to $950. “My first collection is inspired by rhythmic gymnastics and robotics, specifically studying how elegant fluidity emerges from rigid systems. Strongly driven by print, the clothes themselves are playful and fashion-forward but rooted in very wearable shapes,” she told Vogue.

Kanye also recently appeared in David Letterman’s Netflix series, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. Their discussion also touches on Kanye’s experience with being bipolar. “I can just tell you what I’m feeling at the time,” West tells Letterman. “I feel a heightened connection with the universe when I’m ramping up. It is a health issue. This is like a sprained brain, like having a sprained ankle, and if someone has a sprained ankle, you’re not gonna push on them more.”