Ye, Bianca, and The Erasure Of Identity
Clothes are a medium, a stylistic language, but without clothes what’s the message?
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Kanye West has never been one to shy away from a spectacle. But in recent years, the spectacle has become less about his music and more about his ability to manipulate the media through fashion. His latest act? Dressing his wife, Bianca Censori, in a fully transparent custom Yeezy Couture ‘invisible dress’ at the 2025 Grammys that left nothing to the imagination, while he stood beside her fully clothed and in dark glasses.
If you’ve been on the internet over the past week, you’ll know what I’m talking about. The image has been burned into our greater collective consciousness. The contrast was stark, but the message? Even starker.
West and Censori have become the kind of pop culture pariahs that Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne couldn’t resist parodying for Halloween. Since stepping into the spotlight alongside West, Censori has mastered the art of headline-making fashion. Whether avant-garde or attention-seeking, more often than not her outfits are guaranteed to get the internet talking.
Censori is an accomplished woman, make no mistake. She has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Architecture from the University of Melbourne. Yet, in the public eye, she’s been reduced to a silent mannequin, an anonymous body draped in the artistic whims of Ye. Her identity, her voice, and her autonomy have been swallowed whole. Who is Censori beyond her relationship with Kanye? That’s a question we aren’t meant to answer — because we aren’t meant to ask.
When there are no clothes, what’s the message?
Fashion has always been a language, and Ye understands its power. But what happens when clothing is removed from the equation entirely? The so-called invisible dress Censori wore to the Grammys seems to suggest that in Ye’s universe, nudity is the ultimate provocation — an unsubtle rebellion that hinges entirely on the fact that people will be scandalized. Expect the unexpected with one of music’s leading provocateurs.
There’s nothing radical about a woman baring it all, if we’re honest. From Cher to Madonna and Doja Cat to the Kardashian clan, the naked dress is a staple of the entertainment industry. But naked dressing isn’t just about skin — it’s about perception and the stubborn grip of old-school standards on modern femininity. For centuries, women have been measured by the amount of skin they choose to reveal, with ever-shifting rules on what’s considered tasteful versus tacky, bold versus brazen. In 2025, not much has changed.
While this may seem like just another blip in the ongoing style debate over who gets to decide where the line is drawn when challenging the nudity taboo, Censori’s version feels different. It lacks the agency of those who came before her. It lacks personality. It lacks the clothing aspect, obviously. And in that absence, the message becomes muddled: is Bianca embracing radical self-expression, or is she simply a vessel through which Ye enacts his vision?
The Ye effect: propping up women, hiding behind them
Ye’s relationships with women — be it Amber Rose, Kim Kardashian, Julia Fox, or now Bianca — often follow a similar trajectory. He curates them. He moulds them. He wraps them in his aesthetic, ensuring that their public image is inextricably linked to his own. Then, as they gain recognition, and begin to assert their own voices, the dynamic crumbles.
With Bianca, there is no assertion of voice. There are no viral soundbites, no interviews that let us into her world. We don’t know what she’s thinking or feeling, and that’s intentional. Instead, there is silence — punctuated only by Ye’s declarations on her behalf. Censori’s silence isn’t just an absence of words, it’s an open invitation for speculation. With no personal insights on display, we’re left piecing together our own narratives. But maybe that’s the point. Maybe the mystery is the message.
Her Grammy ensemble wasn’t about engaging in a fashion conversation with other women; it was a statement designed to provoke, leaving us all to wonder whether we’re in on the act or simply reacting to it. If you need proof of this, look no further than Ye’s social media commentary after the scandal. “We beat the Grammies,” he wrote, later boasting that she is “the most Googled person on the planet.” The achievement here isn’t about Bianca as an individual — it’s about Bianca as an extension of Ye’s cultural clout.
The illusion of agency
There’s more to this debate than meets the eye. It’s a debate about the spectacle of control, agency, and perception. Censori’s autonomy, feminism (ours too, for that matter), and complicity in this theatrical unveiling are all up for dissection. Meanwhile, the age-old red carpet dynamic plays out yet again: men remain neutral and in charge, while women are meticulously presented, packaged, and served up for consumption.
It would be easy to say that Bianca is simply playing along, complicit in this fashion performance. After all, a woman should be able to wear what she wants, when she wants, or nothing at all if she chooses. But in a world where men remain fully clothed while women are strategically stripped down, things just aren’t that simple. And given that Ye recently filed a trademark for “Wife By Husband” for printed books, more fuel is being added to the fire.
The power dynamic is glaring. Ye has full control over the narrative. He wears a t-shirt and pants while his wife is nearly naked. He speaks while she remains silent. He creates the art; she is the canvas. And the fashion industry, the tabloids, and the internet eat it up, never quite sure whether they should be outraged or impressed.
Ye’s stunt economy
For Ye, controversy is currency. Every scandal, every outraged think piece, every concerned social media post ensures that he remains at the centre of the conversation. Whatever your opinions are of him, in this instance, he gets what he wants. He generates the clicks and digital chatter he seeks. The Grammys stunt is just another entry in his long history of using fashion as a performance — a stunt so pared-back that it left people wondering if it even qualified as fashion at all.
Ye understands better than most that outrage fuels visibility. And in the age of virality, visibility is power. The juxtaposition of Ye’s fully clothed body versus Censori’s nakedness poses food for thought: did this fashion spectacle go too far? Or did it serve its intended purpose? Is this something we should be debating at all?
When the dust settles and the next scandal emerges, what will be left of Bianca Censori beyond being the naked and mute wife of Kanye West? If she is indeed a willing pawn in this game, then she is playing a dangerous one — one where her own identity is at risk of being collateral damage. If she is not, then the conversation doesn’t bare thinking about.
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Such an interesting read, just found your Substack and am so interested in your fashion deep dives!