Who is Vanessa Beecroft? Kanye introduces DJ Akademiks to his close aide, claims SKIMS was her brainchild 

Kanye West recently introduced his longtime collaborator and associate Vanessa Beecroft to online streamer DJ Akademiks. The latter interviewed Ye on Rumble earlier this month, the video of which was circulated online on March 31, 2025. It was during this session that Vanessa Beecroft accompanied West to meet Big Ak.

During the meeting, the Yeezy founder told Akademiks that he and Beecroft collaborated on his short film Runaway, before claiming his ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand SKIMS was Vanessa’s brainchild.

“That’s really where SKIMS came from, that’s her whole style,” Ye was heard saying in the now-viral clip posted by Akademiks TV on Monday.

Vanessa Beecroft is an Italian-origin American multimedia artist who is known for partaking in Yeezy fashion shows and collaborating with brands like Louis Vuitton and Valentino. She greeted DJ Akademiks after being introduced by Kanye, and the duo shook hands.

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All you need to know about Vanessa Beecroft

According to the Famous Birthdays website, Vanessa Beecroft is a US-based Italian contemporary artist and feminist activist known for her multi-media performances, sculptures, and live paintings.

She is a pioneer of the artistic expression called tableau vivant. The 55-year-old has had formal art training and has graced the fashion and conceptual art scenes since the 1990s. Her work has been featured in museums and galleries worldwide.

Beecroft is best known for her capsule collection at Valentino and art piece at the Paris store of Louis Vuitton, where she placed live models on the shelves.

Her socio-political project titled "VB61, Still Death! Darfur Still Deaf?" comprising 53 performances earned attention for its live n*dity and seemingly explicit imagery and revolved around body-object status, according to Numero.

Vanessa was the art director for Kanye’s October 2010 35-minute short film Runaway and has worked on his Yeezy shows since 2008.

Other projects they worked together on include the 808s And Heartbreak Listening Party in October 2008 at Ace Gallery in Los Angeles, the Affordable Care Art Basel Opening in Miami in December 2013, the YEEZUS Tour Stage Design and Choreography between October 2013 and September 2014, and the Kardashian-West Wedding Decorations in Italy in May 2014.

Beecroft and Kanye also collaborated on Yeezy Boost Presentation Performance for both seasons in February and September 2015, respectively, the 808s & Heartbreak Concert Choreography at Hollywood Bowl in October 2015, and the Album Listening and Yeezy Season 3 Presentation Performance at Madison Square Garden in February 2016.

During the January 2015 art direction for Kanye’s music video of Only One with his daughter North West, Vanessa Beecroft helped the child by giving her toy wolves. Ye later told Clique TV in an interview that year that as soon as the kid saw the stuffed toys, she began “screaming and running around, and it was the happiest I'd ever seen her.”

During a 2016 lecture at Oxford University, Kanye further praised Vanessa as a “very focused” collaborator.

“She's like my eyes, she's a piece of my brain. She bought my daughter these three wolves, knowing the whole collection, that it'd play with the song 'Wolves,' and based on this concept,” he explained back then.

However, the duo faced controversy during season 4 when several live models passed out after standing motionless in the sun for too long at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park.

Speaking about her partnership with Kanye, Vanessa told The Guardian in 2009:

“I have divided my personality. There is Vanessa Beecroft as a European white female, and then there is Vanessa Beecroft as Kanye, an African-American male. I even did a DNA test thinking maybe I am black. I actually wasn’t but I want to do it again.”

Later, in February 2016, Vanessa told It's Nice That:

“One day I was approached by Kanye but I wasn’t too aware of who he was because I tend to only listen to classical music. He was extremely kind and asked me to choreograph a performance for his 808s & Heartbreak private listening party in 2008. I was going through a divorce and I started to think that maybe he was my black, male alter-ego."

Meanwhile, Kanye told the LA Times in 2008 how he had always been a “fan” of Beecroft’s work and liked the “idea of n*dity,” as there was an “irony” in it.

Vanessa Beecroft has also worked with reputed brands such as Prada, Tom Ford, Helmut Lang, and Dolce & Gabbana, among others. She collaborated with Sisley for their spring-summer 2017 campaign, where the collection was based on the theme, “From order to chaos, from unity to division.”

According to the Emporiumart website, Vanessa Beecroft was born in Genoa, Italy, in April 1969, and grew up in Lake Garda, Malcesine. She hails from a cosmopolitan family, with an Italian mother and an English father. Beecroft attended art high school, followed by earning her college degree in painting from the Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti.

She later pursued set design at Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan and graduated in 1993. Kanye’s associate also took performance courses at La Chiave in Campopisano. Vanessa is married to sociologist Greg Durken, and the couple shares two sons.

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Kanye West met DJ Akademiks for a chat. (Image via X)

It remains unclear whether Kanye and Vanessa Beecroft are gearing up for a collaboration soon. However, he appeared in DJ Akademiks’ interview earlier this month wearing an all-black KKK-inspired robe and hood and later sported a Sean John t-shirt (his collaborative brand with Diddy) alongside a Swastika pendant, which triggered backlash.

During the interview, Ye talked about Diddy, Kendrick Lamar, and Drake’s rap battle, as well as his ongoing feud with Playboi Carti.