Meet the Woman Creating Some of the Pieces Featured in Bianca Censori’s Viral Outfits
Laura Beham, one half of Zurich-based brand Prototypes, discusses the sheer bodysuits and fur coats she’s created for Censori that the internet can’t stop talking about.
UPDATED 3/25/24, 3:11 p.m. ET: A Yeezy rep has provided an official statement to Complex.
"Laura Beham is not in fact any kind of style advisor to Bianca Censori, who is wholly in the driving seat when it comes to her fashion choices, and she never has been. Beham is attempting to take credit for outfits she had zero involvement in choosing.
Laura Beham and Callum Pidgeon were fired from Yeezy as long ago as January 6, and have been around Ye and Bianca only sporadically since then, and not on payroll."
See original story below.
Bianca Censori is already a style icon.
No matter what she’s worn for the past year, people have had a lot to say. Some scoff at how revealing the sheer bodysuits are. Others have questioned how much control she actually has over her own wardrobe, insinuating Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) is dressing her up however he wants. According to designer Laura Beham, one half of the duo behind the Zurich-based brand Prototypes and creator of many of the nearly-nude looks, Censori is totally on board.
“She's very involved in the process. Bianca knows exactly what she would like to wear and it's us executing, realizing the vision,” Beham tells Complex. “Bianca wouldn't wear anything out on the street if she didn't want to do it. When people react negatively to it, I think they're just not ready for it. It’s shocking to people, but innovation is always shocking in the beginning.”
The looks are fairly simplistic. For most of them, Beham is reinterpreting some Wolford tights. They usually only take a few hours, sometimes minutes, to create. “Who wants to wait a month for a dress? Nobody. I think if you have an idea, you want to wear it immediately,” says Beham. Mowalola Ogunlesi also deserves credit for dressing Ye’s wife in some of her most talked-about outfits like see-through “WET” tank tops and revealing black leather bodysuits. But Beham’s upcycled sheer creations, which debuted in April 2023 when Censori attended Fear of God’s fashion show in Los Angeles, are what initially got a lot of people talking.
“A lot of people question or comment like, ‘Oh, she's basically naked, wearing no underwear.’ There are so many negative comments about the nudity part,” says Beham. “At the end of the day, she's fully covered, not naked.”
Beham and her business partner Callum Pidgeon operate their own brand, Prototypes. The line started in 2021 after both of them decided to step away from their jobs on the Vetements design team. They disagreed with the lack of sustainable practices in the luxury fashion industry, and decided they wanted to do something about it.
“There's so much stock out there from the past 100 years that’s just rotting,” says Beham. “We both don't see a point in making something new from scratch.”
Now, the duo reconstructs existing materials into brand new creations. The first pieces they ever made for Prototypes were a hoodie out of vintage sweatpants, a long sleeve by stitching together tank tops, and a dress by cutting three slits into an old table cloth. Sometimes they acquire old deadstock fabric rolls from warehouses and use them to create full collections. Other times, they take a miscellaneous assortment of items, like hundreds of old neckties, and transform them into suits and dresses. For Censori’s looks, that has meant turning sheer hosiery into bodysuits or printing Prototypes logos across translucent military ponchos from the ‘80s.
“It's all been done. It's all out there. There's a body with two arms and two legs. I think it's time to rethink the role of a designer,” says Beham. “Our responsibility for the new generation is to share knowledge and make it fun. It's just clothes. We're not like doing heart surgery or saving lives. At the end of the day, we're selling pens to people that already have 100 pens.”
Ye first discovered Prototypes on a random shopping trip in Los Angeles. He spotted some of the brand’s pieces on the rack at H.Lorenzo. He immediately reached out before he even left the store. Beham and Pidgeon flew from Zurich to Los Angeles shortly after. The group immediately clicked. Beham calls Yeezy “Disneyland for creatives.”
“Nothing is impossible. And it's not just clothing. There's food, and there's architecture, and there's music, and it's all happening in the same room at the same time,” says Beham. “Seeing him float through all of these departments within like minutes and being 100,000 percent in it, I was stunned. It's very special seeing someone working in that way and being part of it.”
Prototypes’ most recent collection actually featured a ton of repurposed items from the canceled Yeezy Gap line that was destined for destruction. A supplier they work with frequently acquired a large amount of old Yeezy Gap pieces and reached out to them. Ye and Bianca gave them the blessing to use it for Prototypes. When they unveiled their Series 06 lookbook, Ye posted every look on his Instagram story for his 20.3 million followers to see.
“They were so excited about it,” says Beham. “When we heard about the stock being sold to be off-shored and incinerated, Ye and Bianca loved the idea of Prototypes reworking and upcycling what Gap tried to get rid of. They decided to invest and save the stock from being wasted. Prototypes gave it a second life.”
When it comes to the looks Beham is crafting for Censori, don’t expect the internet criticism to subside. But Beham isn’t taking it to heart.
“There is always a platform for criticism or negativity,” says Beham. “But I think the most important part we all achieved with those looks is opening a conversation. Whether you hate it or love it, you have an opinion on it.”
Beham breaks down some of the looks she has created for Censori throughout the past 12 months, below.
Sheer Bodysuit at Fear of God Show
Beham Says: That was a big bag of Wolford tights. We stitched her into the hosiery for hours. She couldn't go to the bathroom. She wouldn't be able to drink or to do anything with it. But [Ye and Bianca’s] vision of the look, it was worth it. And I think that is so, so unique.
It has this sheen to it, which is really, really cool. It was a nighttime event as well. That was the first full look basically. It's all made from a pair of tights worn regularly as hosiery and then turning it upside down and making a long sleeve and a mask out of it. Ye was literally finger pointing like, “Guys, can we do it like this?” I mean, that's how involved Ye is. Bianca proposed the idea like, “Laura, can you make this? We need to make a look for tonight. I want to wear all nude hosiery.” From there, we built it and executed it together.
A lot of people question or comment like, “Oh, she's basically naked, wearing no underwear.” There are so many negative comments about the nudity part. At the end of the day, she is actually fully covered, not naked. Hosiery was invented to actually cover up, not display bare naked skin.
To me, it's fascinating how a garment can create such an illusion for the eye. It’s like a couture piece, where you wonder, "How did they make it?” Hosiery triggers your perception of what you see and do not see. It's almost like an optical illusion, a trompe l`oeil. Hosiery is a garment that only comes to life when worn on a body. On its own, it’s flat and shapeless. It’s invented to highlight its wearer.
Prototypes Fur Coat With Black Tights
Beham Says: It's a nice combination of materials, the fur and the hosiery. It's totally Bianca and Ye deciding how to combine and how to style it. We had the jacket with sweats in the collection.
The jacket was actually a rug. It was a reindeer rug that we found vintage and I cut four slits in it, taped it with gaffer tape, and shaved it. It's a prototype. It doesn't really matter how long you take [ to make something]. It’s playtime. It's supposed to be fun, and quick, and easy.
I think she went for dinner in Paris in this. I remember we sent the jacket to her directly after we released the campaign in January. She had it for like a month. It's all up to [Bianca and Ye]. I think that's the nice part about it. They build up the narrative and the story behind it. We have no influence on how it would be styled. Sometimes we just make something and send it out. Sometimes it's a request.
They really truly care about us and about the brand. It's honest as well. Bianca wouldn't wear something just for the sake of us begging her to wear it. She would only wear it if she really liked it. And I think that's so special. It's a very honest relationship.
Prototypes Poncho
Beham Says: Callum and I actually found this in England. We found a big stock of military ponchos and the specific one there is German military deadstock from the 1980s, made in Japan. I think only a few hundred were available. And we spray painted it. We had it in the collection worn naked underneath. I love playing with the eye. Is it transparent? Is it offending me now? Is it scandalous?
It's a pre-existing garment. We didn't make it. But we're saving it from just rotting in a bin. It will not just dispose of itself. It's PVC. And then Bianca supporting it, these are upcycled. I think it's very unique and very special that they help us communicate to be a bit more sustainable. Upcycling isn't dusty. It can be the future.
Blue Prototypes Shirt With Black Tights
Beham Says: I love that it's not a crazy, artsy, design that Bianca wears. It's her wearing day-to-day Prototypes. The fabric is something where you can see where Yeezy and Prototypes is a partnership that goes both ways. Cheese cloth is a fabric that we all share and love. It's a fabric that we found in LA. It's stretchy, but it's cotton. It feels like you're wearing a base layer, but it also feels like an old T-shirt. There's something really organic about it. That's what the [WET] tank tops are made out of.
The long sleeve has a signature on the shoulder that says “Prototypes,” like when football players sign jerseys. It’s unique, a long sleeve with a pair of hosiery. It’s fully her and it's fully Prototypes.
