It’s been a year since Kanye West, now known as Ye (but come on), embarked on his antisemitism tour, costing him his Adidas contract, his Gap contract, his CAA contract, his Def Jam contract, and his place in the culture. Even off-price retailer TJ Maxx said publicly that it would no longer sell Yeezy leftovers. Balenciaga cut ties with him. 

West, of course, never entirely went away. There were the paparazzi shots of him and new wife, Bianca Censori; there were the snaps in Japan of him and Dov Charney, whom he recruited earlier this year to run the Yeezy business. Recently, rumors of a “listening party”—uh, also known as a concert?—in Italy have popped up in music publications and tabloids alike. Speculation aside, West has been working. Not only on music, but fashion, too, and it seems his comeback is imminent. 

Just a few days ago, I was told by a solid source that West was working with David Tourniaire-Beauciel, arguably the world’s most important shoe designer, on a new collection. More people, including a person who deals directly with Ye, said that yes, it was true. However, according to Tourniaire-Beauciel, he is not working with Yeezy. I asked him, via email, if he had any idea why people would say this.