The College Dropout Who Never Enrolled: Kanye West, Central Saint Martins and the Art School Mythos
A rare encounter between fashion education and fame, this retrospective unpacks Kanye West’s near-enrolment at CSM, revealing more than a headline—it’s a study in creativity, contradiction and the fine line between audacity and artistic vision.
West is a rebellious figure in both modern-day hip-hop and popular culture whose career features several sporadic incidents, spontaneous outbursts and arbitrary stunts. As inspired as they are zealous, the musician/designer's artistic endeavors all ultimately feed into this infamous image of a bold visionary unaffected by public perception and emotions. West finds himself in a particularly unstable position—vilified and praised, sometimes within the same news cycle—in an age more and more defined by polarisation, cancelling culture and digital spectacles. Whether seen as ego-driven or boundary-pushing, his provocations often cross the line between genius and madness, therefore prompting debate on the connection among celebrity, mental health, artistic freedom and public accountability. Although many artists are influenced by the society they work in, West seems to both shape and destroy it concurrently, therefore elevating him to the same level of cultural importance as he is contentious.
In an interview with Fabio Piras, course director of the prestigious MA Fashion course at London’s Central Saint Martins, a spotlight is shone on one of Kanye’s other, lesser-known creative pursuits—namely, a time when the highly-decorated, 21-time Grammy Award-winning artist applied to study for a Master’s at one of the world’s most reputable fashion schools.
“I never had the urge to understand him or, wrongly so, be curious about his music. As a person, he was, to me, impressive to a level of almost overwhelming because of his commitment to his art and also an absolute intelligence.” Piras—whose smart, yet muted and slightly stolid attire could easily have had him mistaken for a classics or drama professor rather than fashion—was recollecting an encounter with West in 2015 when, in the midst of fashion week, West himself had paid the renowned college a visit in the flesh.
“So here comes this incredible global superstar. This was a fashion course that was like ‘wow’, you know, something that he was really into,” recalls Piras. “So everybody was waiting for Kanye like crazy. And we were supposed to be incognito. ’Cause we had to actually do a whole studio just to have him. And of course, it didn't happen like that because obviously students were at the doors, banging in, trying to see Kanye at all costs. So it was funny.”
Unlike many of the famous rapper’s other stunts and gimmicks, this was an excursion motivated not by ostentation or whimsy, but what appeared instead to be pure curiosity and unbridled enthusiasm. Piras paints a picture of a developing artist with a hankering to learn more—as a humble student.
“What I'm trying to say in all this is that from that absolute superstar, the kind of persona—bodyguards who would go wherever he would go, a team protecting him—what you get is somebody coming here, sitting in his office, having a chat, and then you realise that you're speaking to somebody who was completely immersed in the creative process,” Piras recounts.
The course director—whose animated hand gestures spoke several levels more than his stoic expression did—continued, illustrating Kanye’s captivation with the work of the students on the MA course. West was so taken by one student’s work at the time that he employed him on the spot. “Just enough time to do paperwork and then [he] was shipped to America—to LA. It’s a world of opportunities, you know?”
For each bout of craziness, Kanye has also, most definitely, had his fair share of “genius.”
As stated by himself in the song Feedback: “Name one genius that ain’t crazy.”
In 2015—five years post-My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy—West was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine for the second time in his career (the first being in 2005). He had just begun working with Adidas, premiering the first Yeezy x Adidas collaboration, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for his contributions to music, fashion and popular culture—officially making him an honorary DFA. In June, he headlined—although met with much opposition—at Glastonbury Festival, performing part of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody and proclaiming himself “the greatest living rock star on the planet.”
Hardly averse to a bit of braggadocio, West has also infamously and repeatedly referred to himself as a “genius”, comparing himself to mega-talents like Kubrick, Picasso and Warhol—comparisons which were met with much opposition by the media and general public alike.
According to Piras, these reactions are down to one thing.
“[His statements] only get [such a] backlash because we are in actually quite a dark era. Andy Warhol considered himself a genius, so why shouldn't he?”
“It’s not a case of whether you agree or not. I don't think Andy Warhol was the greatest person, but you'd probably find the same amount of people who’d say ‘he was such a nice guy’—is it important? To be a nice guy? Is it important to be somebody that has the consensus? I think that’s the problem with this moment in time—we look for consensus, we look for why.”
When asked for his impression upon meeting Kanye that day, Piras responded, “If there is one thing he’s not, it’s lowbrow. I think what people forget is he’s somebody who is very highly educated.”
“He’s pretty informed so, you know, actually, it’s very difficult to sustain a conversation with Kanye. I think what came out was really this kind of commitment to the creative process and to a vision and to opportunities within that—which is not about taking, actually. It’s about bringing people to him, to enhance his vision, which I think is a sign of great talent.”
West’s affiliation with the college is traceable all the way back to his relationship with Piras’ predecessor, Louise Wilson OBE. Having attended Wilson’s memorial in February 2015—just around the time of London Fashion Week—Piras explains how West had caught wind of the CSM annual MA Fashion show, asking to visit, and subsequently apply, shortly after.
“He’s always looked up to MA Fashion through Louise,” said Piras.
The relationship between the former MA Fashion course director and the internationally-acclaimed artist was, as described by Piras, one of mutual admiration, respect and intrigue. “That’s her,” he said, pointing fondly at a random picture pinned on his wall right next to him, directly within eyeshot. A visibly somewhat-eccentric character, Wilson sounded almost as charming as the current course director was focused and pensive. “She had that charisma... she [was] a genius. And [Kanye’s] an artist and he’s produced a body of work.”
Louise also embraced a fundamental characteristic that could easily have been the catalyst for her relationship with West: her point of view. “She was also very controversial,” described Piras.
“[She] was always really quite taken by him,” Piras recalled. “But he learned a lot from Louise. The big bulk of that friendship was discussing art, fashion, design... and he obviously really respected her point of view.”
West never went on to study on the MA course. “How could you have a student in your class named Kanye?”
Fabio muses, however, that perhaps Kanye may have had very little to learn from the course anyhow. Filled with a myriad of personalities and figures whose expertise makes up the course just as much as its creative students do, Central Saint Martins seemed to offer something even better than the course for the famed superstar.
“I think he benefited from that relationship,” concluded Piras, referring to West’s close friendship with the late Louise Wilson. “I think more than he would have being a student at this school... they still learned a lot from each other.”