Style Tiktoker Wisdom Kaye Attends Prada’s Spring/Summer 2023 Men’s Show
Written by SOURCE on June 20, 2022
Wisdom Kaye has an imposing presence. In a room full of people like Dwyane Wade, Gabrielle Union, Odell Beckham Jr., Jeff Goldblum, and Jake Gyllenhaal, he still stands out. Partly because of his height, which doesn’t fully translate on his TikTok page—he is 6-foot-4. But it’s also how he carries himself. He’s wearing a Prada nylon jumpsuit covered in a floral print with a Prada belt and black leather boots in the 90 degree Milan heat, but he looks cool as a cucumber as he strides from the show venue to the Prada Foundation restaurant with his agent in tow.
“I thought it was going to be too hot, but it’s actually really thin and breathable,” says Kaye, who attended Prada’s Spring/Summer 2023 men’s show. Kaye’s amassed 8.2 million followers on TikTok with his entertaining style content that ranges from him creating looks based on Marvel heroes to him conjuring up outfits he would wear to sit front row at different fashion shows.
Here, we speak to Kaye about why he is drawn to Prada, what he thought of the show, and what’s next for him beyond TikTok.
How did you like the show? What were some of your favorite pieces?
I loved the show. It somehow reminded me of like this boyhood that I didn’t really have, but I could relate to. I was a big fan of the leather shorts and some of the denim ensembles were really interesting too. Something I would definitely wear.
I read that you started to get into fashion in high school. So when did you discover Prada?
I feel like it’s the same for a lot of people where you just know these big brands and these big houses. But then obviously as I started getting more into the industry, that’s when you sort of do like the deeper dive and you discover the roots and who’s held the positions at what and all those sort of things. So I’ve probably known about Prada for as long as I’ve been alive.
What about the brand are you drawn to?
There’s certain houses and designers where there’s certain elements of them that are like, ‘Oh, I like that thing.’ But with Prada it’s sort of all encompassing. Whether it’s runway, ready to wear, the materials being used, you know, the references being made and all those sort of things. So it’s all encompassing. Everything is really interesting.
I know you have TikTok videos showing what you would wear to sit front row for different shows. Can you talk about what you are wearing today?
We’ve got this jumpsuit. I remember I got the picture for it and I was like, my God, it’s gonna be too hot for that. But it’s actually really thin. So it’s breathable. And I decided I wanted to cinch the waist a little bit so I got the Prada belt. And I love a good boot, so I tucked the jumpsuit into the boot. I just really took the look and turned into, you know, something more Wisdom.
And what’s next? I see you’re building relationships with brands. But what’s your ultimate goal?
My ultimate goal is to kind of just be like a creative hand behind the scene in every industry. There’s certain musicians like Pharrell. He’s in the fashion space. He’s in the music space. He’s in this creative space. He’s touching on different spaces and playing that creative role and helping get things off the ground and amplify things. So that’s kind of what I want to do. With TikTok, I have ideas and I just post them. But I would love to build on them and go bigger. I’d love to be involved in costume design and styling wardrobes for certain characters. It would be really cool to have my hand in that.
Do you see yourself maybe having your own line?
There’s some things in the works. There’s some names here and there. And then, you know, hopefully eventually I will have my own sort of thing and we’ll go from there.
What’s been your biggest takeaway from your TikTok? What have you learned about yourself and others over the past couple years?
I get comments from people saying I’ve inspired them. Not just to wear certain things but just for them to be who they are. To be confident in their own skin, which is insane. And for myself I’ve learned what happens when you put the effort into something and the rewards you get from it. There’s so many takeaways, but I say those two in particular would be the biggest ones.
I also read how you used clothes as a way to fit in. How did you get to the point where you were confident to wear exactly what you wanted?
Everyone says this and it’s hard to actually do, but you just have to not care. That’s the only thing I can think of. You have to not care about what other people are saying. And the big thing that I always tell myself is like, no matter what you do, someone is gonna have something to say. You could have a cure for COVID and someone’s gonna have something negative to say about you. So like, why care at all? Why care about what anybody’s gonna say? You’re not gonna please everyone. So might as well just do what you actually wanna do, you know?
There were a lot of celebrities at this show. Have you ever met a celebrity and they were aware of what you do?
Henry Golding. I met him at this party and told him how handsome he was, and then I saw him again at another event and he said he actually knows me. He’s seen my videos and he was like you’re a very hard worker. And he has to actually know what I do to be able to say I’m a hard worker. So that was an insane moment.
