The artist formerly known as Kanye West makes headlines for, well for a lot of things. If you liked Ye’s plain white T-shirts for $120, then get ready for the newest in hip hop fashion: bulletproof vests.
Earlier this year, Kanye released his album DONDA, named after his late mother. As part of the promotion for his album, Ye organized listening parties around the country. When he got to Atlanta for the second listening party, Ye made waves for his outfit, most notably his bulletproof vest emblazed with “DONDA.”
https://youtu.be/WlwbPnZNqh0?t=1339
That same bulletproof vest just sold at auction for $75,000.
Kanye West’s Incredible Vest
The vest is black, but emblazoned with “DONDA,” referring both to the title of Ye’s album and the name of his mother. Ye signed the vest with the letters “MBD,” standing for “My Body Different.” This is a reference to Ye himself. According to the auction listing this, “immortaliz[es] his supernatural status—Kanye is built to last, and not going anywhere.” Similarly, the listing helpfully informs is that the vest is not merely a vest.
“Worn during his time at the stadium, the DONDA bullet proof vest was designed as a metaphor for West’s militaristic perspective, reflecting his need for only the essentials to survive and his readiness to go on stage and risk his life for his music and craft.”
In case you were wondering, it did in fact come with ballistic panels. Stylish, and functional!
The Tale of the Traveling Vest
From the back of Ye himself, the vest was gifted to a security officer. From there is was reportedly sold to a reseller for a respectable $20,000, and eventually made its way to Christies. Christies is a British auction house specializing is works of art and luxury goods. They estimated the Donda Vest to be worth about $30,000. Instead, the vest sold for over twice as much. Included with the vest was an NFT, or Non-Fungible Token. An NFT is basically a certificate of ownership, proving that you own the original. When the DONDA line takes off and these vests are sold by the thousand, only the winner of this auction can claim they have the original. Or, they could always bring their new drip to a gunfight.
by Chris Colasurdo
@cfcolasurdo on Twitter
