Kanye and fiancée Alexis

When I saw Scott Shuman of The Sartorialist outside of Chanel this morning, I promptly ambushed him with my Chicago fashion question.

First off, he had to give love to the city by saying that he remembers getting really excited to check out Ultimo when he visited in the ’80s (Scott’s from Indianapolis). As far as shooting street style, he thinks there are neighborhoods that are good, but so many Chicagoans drive, which makes it hard.

Then he said he’d shot Kanye West a lot during fashion week, “He’s from Chicago, right?”  

I laughed, but not because of anything related to Kanye’s style.  

It’s just that Stacey and I have a running joke that every time we see him, Kanye’s chewing gum. Generally in the middle of giving an interview. It’s one of those things that keeps us entertained. Also, the guy is at every show. Each fashion season there is that ubiquitous someone, and this season it’s definitely Kanye, funky glasses and aspiring fashion designer fiancée Alexis Phifer in tow.

“Saw Kanye at Giambattista Valli,” I’ll say to Stacey.

“Oh yeah? How was the gum situation?”

“Level orange.”

The man likes his gum.

Anyway, since I was standing outside of the Chanel show when I saw Scott, I wondered: would Karl Lagerfeld approve of gum chewing? It does exude carefree and optimistic American—like his show today. Sort of 1950’s sock hop, too.

I decided he would.