Given that their relationship is in its (very) nascent stages, I can’t decide quite how I feel about Julia Fox and Kanye West. Does my opinion on their buzzy union matter? No, but that’s entirely beside the point.
While I’m not yet endeared, I’m definitely intrigued. The idea of Fox, an Italian-born, New York-raised art girl-turned-actress, being West’s first public post-separated girlfriend was initially surprising. As far as we know, their worlds hadn’t really overlapped before meeting in Miami on New Year’s Eve, but upon further investigation, they actually appear to be a good fit. They’re both parents freshly out of acrimonious un-couplings and match each other’s eccentric personas and theatrical sensibilities.
As a tenured Kanye fan, as soon as I knew that JuliYe was indeed a real thing, I knew that a makeover was imminent. Historically, Kanye has been both a boyfriend and an image architect to his significant others Amber Rose and Kim Kardashian.
Rose said that the sartorial side of their relationship was collaborative. “I'm not like his Barbie,” she said in a 2009 interview with Elle. “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 favorite color. I'm like, whose favorite color is bone?” But to compare looks before and after their 2010 breakup, the influence he once had on her style is evident.
Most famously, Kanye cleaned out his soon-to-be ex-wife’s closet during a 2012 episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
Early in the clip, the camera pans to a walk-in closet full of studded, printed, brightly-colored bags and shoes as his team of stylists and tailors wheel in new racks of couture. While she pleaded to keep, he encouraged her to purge. “Babe you gotta really clean out everything,” he told her. Granted, she was a very willing participant. In her confessional, she spoke about how excited she was to experience his take on style. And it was for the best—the transition ushered her into a more exciting, statement-making era, bridging the gap from when she was a Hervé Léger-enthusiast to now, when she’s the star of Balenciaga’s new campaign.
His relationship with Fox followed suit. On their first date, she was photographed wearing a leather corset top and jeans. On their second, she paired a Balenciaga mock neck with low-cut Miaou pants and a blue Sies Marjan coat—then swapped coats midway through the date. In her new column chronicling their love—which debuted exactly one week and two dates into it—she spoke about her own closet overhaul. “After dinner Ye had a surprise for me. I mean, I’m still in shock. Ye had an entire hotel suite full of clothes. It was every girl’s dream come true. It felt like a real Cinderella moment.” In the accompanying photos, she’s trying on acid-washed, distressed, and studded looks by Diesel.
Photo: Gotham/GC Images/Getty
For the second installment, dubbed Fox News, she revealed to Interview’s Mel Ottenberg that within days of meeting Kanye, “all my shit was in boxes, gone.” She likened the process to catharsis. “It wasn’t like I was just packing up my old clothes, it was like I was packing up my old life. I was like making that very conscious decision to really put everything in the box. To let go of the past.”
So, what should we make of her makeover? Kanye has likened styling to a love language, but can close curation of a partner’s look be a means of control? Like most fairytales, the Cinderella transformation trope can actually be problematic. While reimagining a partner's look can be a way of showing you care, it can also be a means of displaying dominance—not unlike marking territory.
“Controlling what your partner wears makes them feel like they need to dress a certain way in order to get validation, approval, and perpetuates conditional love,” dating and breakup coach Samantha Burns tells Coveteur. That being said, despite the access that we, the fans, appear to have to JuliYe, we obviously don’t know what their actual dynamic is, and it’s likely that Kanye's attention to these details is just his way of expressing love to those around him. But for those who wish to follow suit, it’s important to consider that your partner is a person, not a mannequin. “Putting pressure on your partner to change their style or update their look becomes unhealthy when they begin to feel that your attraction and interest stems from achieving a certain look,” Burns explains.
The makeover is an element of some of our most formative fantasies. In movies where someone is taken under a more stylish or sophisticated wing, like in Clueless, She’s All That, or Pretty Woman, makeover montages symbolize graduating into a new echelon. This isn’t a bad thing, but things veer off course when they create new ideals that you have to change to attain. “What you adorn your body with should ultimately be your choice,” Burns says, “and your partner should accept you as you are.” Would we say no to a wardrobe handpicked by rap’s most stylish star? Never, but it’s important to understand the negative implications at play—even if we can’t look away. Like Fox, we’re “loving the ride.”
Top photo: Edward Berthelot/Getty
Want more stories like this?
Mastering the Art of a First-Date Outfit
A Testament to the Art of Getting Dressed
How Iman Harnessed the Power of Scent to Find Joy Amid Grief