Kanye West, whose womenswear line is scheduled to debut during Paris Fashion Week on Saturday (Oct. 1), was recently spotted handpicking his fabrics, during a quiet shopping trip in London's East End.

The 'N----s in Paris' rapper, who has enlisted Givenchy creative director and designer of his 'Watch the Throne' album artwork, Ricardo Tisci, to mentor him, has made repeat visits to London Trimmings, a shop in Whitechapel, East London, where he has spent £14,000 (almost $22,000) on zippers and fabrics, in two trips.

"He turned up unexpectedly at first. He was very polite, interested in what we had to say," Owner Ashraf Loonat, 31, told the BBC. "What was really good was when I asked him [Kanye] why he was here himself he said, 'I want to work from the ground upwards, I don't want to leave it to someone else.'"

'Ye apparently visited the shop with an atypically light entourage. "He just had a couple of people with him," Loonat continued, though he did not specify as to whether they were the infamous leopard-print pants gang he rolled with to Paris Fashion Week 2009. "Personally I think he will probably come back. I think London has a special place for his label."

Kanye's 2012 womenswear collection, a collaboration with British designer Louise Goldin, will reportedly debut on Oct. 1, at 9:30PM, following collections by Jean Paul Gauliter and Loewe.



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