Support for LAist comes from
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Stay Connected
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Listen

Share This

This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.

This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

Arts and Entertainment

Kanye's Christmas Gift To Kim Is A Hand-Painted Purse So Fugly It's Hip

Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.

Oh, you shouldn't have... Really. Kanye West gave his boo Kim Kardashian a Christmas present she'll never forget.

Yeezy's gift was a huge $40,000 Hermès Birkin bag, complete with hand-painted artwork from famed New York-based artist George Condo, according to The Cut. Although we don't know how much West paid Condo for the artwork, we're sure it's a pretty penny. Kardashian proudly Instagrammed the purse, which was emblazoned with artwork of naked women and a green-faced ghoul with the hashtag, "#OneofOne." And she's not scared to put it to use, even with its one of a kind status.

Condo had also created the cover art for West's My Beautiful, Dark, Twisted Fantasy, which featured an armless, winged angel with a spotted tail straddling a black man. The artist claimed Kanye wanted a controversial album cover to stir up publicity; Yeezy had claimed on Twitter the cover was banned (and has since taken those tweets down), according to The Guardian.

Support for LAist comes from

GQ interpreted the nature of Condo's twisted artwork:

What's true of all of Condo's work is that he often flips popular icons and symbols (see: Superman, Kanye West, and Playboy bunnies) into humorously menacing caricatures. Often, it challenges viewers to find and interpret "beauty" in the art by making them confront their own notions of ugliness.

We hope Kardashian can sleep easily at night because this bag is the stuff nightmares are made of.

As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.

Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.

We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.

No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.

Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.

Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.

Chip in now to fund your local journalism
A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right
(
LAist
)

Trending on LAist