Kanye West‘s Yeezy threads aren’t the only items of Kanye-related clothing that sell for a pretty penny.
An autographed Donda bulletproof vest as worn by Ye during the making of his album of the same name this past summer was one of many rare, high-valued items on sale as part of the “Handbags x HYPE” auction held by prestigious British auction house Christie’s last week.
The black vest, which was originally gifted to a security guard and then sold to a reseller for $20,000, sold for a staggering $75,000 at the auction on December 9. That’s almost triple what Christie’s estimated it would fetch. The buyer also received a one-of-one NFT (non-fungible token) version of the vest featuring digital 3D data.
According to the auction listing, the Donda vest features ballistic panels, hand-painted “DONDA” text and Kanye West’s autograph which reads “MBD,” an acronym for “My Body Different.”
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“The Donda bullet proof vest was designed as a metaphor for West’s militaristic perspective, reflecting his need for only the essentials to survive and his readiness to go on stage and risk his life for his music and craft,” the listing reads.
Kanye West debuted the bulletproof vest during his second Donda listening session at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on August 5. He continued to wear it while finishing up the album (and working out) in his makeshift studio at the stadium, as captured in the fly-on-the-wall livestream following the event.
Donda collaborators including Fivio Foreign were also seen rocking a Donda bulletproof vest while in the studio, which was part of a strict dress code imposed by Mr. West.
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“When we went to Ye’s shit he made us all wear like [Yeezy],” the Brooklyn rapper, who delivered a show-stealing verse on “Off the Grid,” revealed during a visit to the L.A. Leakers in September. “We had the vest on, he made us all wear Donda merch. I thought we were on Donda timing, I guess to get us in [that mindset].”
Kanye West’s DONDA Bulletproof Vest Sold For $20K
In addition to the $75,000 Donda vest, Christie’s “Handbags x HYPE” auction also sold a complete collection of Kanye West’s Yeezy 350 sneakers for $37,5000, a complete collection of Virgil Abloh‘s Off-White x Nike sneakers for $62,5000 and a pair of Air Jordan XIII sneakers — signed and game-worn by Michael Jordan himself — for a whopping $375,000.
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That figure still pales in comparison to the $1.8 million Kanye’s “Grammy-worn” Nike Air Yeezy 1s sneakers from 2008 sold for at a Sotheby’s auction in April. The shoes were acquired by sneaker investing platform Raresapp in a record-breaking deal that marked the first seven-figure sneaker sale.
