So this Kanye West-dating-Irina Shayk thing, with the birthday trip to France rolled in? Apparently it’s been going on for a while, if the Russian-born supermodel’s taste in pricy T-shirts is any indication.
Shayk was photographed in late April wearing a long-sleeve commemorative DMX shirt — with no pants, just thigh-high black boots — while she was walking in New York City with four-year-old daughter Lea, whom she shares with ex-beau Bradley Cooper. West was in town around that time for DMX’s memorial celebration.
The $200 custom shirts were commissioned from Balenciaga by West’s fashion brand, Yeezy, TMZ reported. After going on sale online April 24, they sold out in less than 24 hours, raising big bucks for the late rapper’s family. The Shayk photo was taken April 26, suggesting her attire was a personal delivery rather than the product of speedy overnight shipping.
The dating rumours apparently started flowing soon after. Then on Wednesday the Daily Mail declared West and Shayk a couple, producing photos of them taken with the longest of long lenses during what it termed a “romantic getaway” in France.
The former presidential candidate, who turned 44 on Tuesday, and the model, 35, can be seen walking through a park-like landscape near the boutique hotel Villa La Coste in Provence. The two of them, who in most of the photos are with a small group, are not shown touching, holding hands, kissing or even looking directly at each other. So make of it what you will.
“It’s casual at the moment, but they are into each other,” an insider told Page Six. “It’s been going on for a few weeks now.”
West, who is in the process of divorcing from Kim Kardashian, has known Shayk for years. She appeared in his ‘Power’ music video, and her name popped up in the lyrics of ‘Christian Dior Denim Flow’. Both songs came out in 2010. Shayk and actor-director Cooper split in June 2019 after four years together.
Before Kardashian and West became Kimye, the rapper had relationships with the likes of high school girlfriend Sumeke Rainey, designer Alexis Phifer, aspiring actress Brooke Crittendon, stripper-turned-model Amber Rose and musician Selita Ebanks. He and Kardashian met in 2003 but didn’t start dating until 2012, when she was divorcing second husband Kris Humphries. West and Kardashian married, lavishly, in 2014.
Meanwhile, back in California this week, Kanye’s estranged wife — who filed for divorce in February after a lot of rumors predicting just that — was posting a birthday wish to him Tuesday on Instagram.
“Happy Birthday,” Kardashian wrote, captioning a photo of a then-happy couple with three of their four children on a private plane. “Love U for Life!”
The attorney-in-training reportedly knows about and is OK with West’s new squeeze, according to an unnamed Us Weekly source. “Kim doesn’t mind,” the source said, “because she saw how quiet and respectful Irina was after she broke up with Bradley.”
Apparently, good people are the ones who don’t share their dirty laundry with the media.
