Jay Z and Kanye West’s Grammy nominated single “N*ggas In Paris” will now have a clothing collection with its namesake.
A.P.C clothing line founder Jean Touitou has decided to name a part of his fall/winter 2015 line “N*ggas In Paris.” At the collection’s presentation, he explained the line’s meaning.
“I call this one look Last N*ggas in Paris. Why? Because it’s the sweet spot when the hood meets Bertolucci’s movie Last Tango in Paris. So that’s ‘N*ggas in Paris’ and Last N*ggas in Paris. Oh, I am glad some people laughed with me. Yes, I mean, it’s nice to play with the strong signifiers. The Timberland here is a very strong ghetto signifier. In the ghetto, it is all the Timberlands, all the big chain. Not at the same time—never; it’s bad taste. So we designed Timberlands with Timberland.”
After making this bold explanation, he released a statement to Style.com clarifying what he meant. He added that once he ran the idea past Mr. West to name part of the collection after his song, he gave him his blessing.
“One hip-hop song is called ‘Ni**as in Paris.’ One movie is called Last Tango in Paris,” he said. “I made looks which are a cross-over of those two references: the Timberland shoes and the sweat pants are iconic of hip-hop, and the camel hair color coat, worn with nothing under it, is iconic of that precise movie. I am friends with Kanye and he and I presented a joint collection at the same place, one year ago, and that this thing is only a homage to our friendship. As a matter of fact, when I came up with this idea, I wrote to him, with the picture of the look and the name I was giving to it, and he wrote back immediately saying something like, ‘I love this vibe.'”