Kanye West Shows Up at The Venice Ball in a Mexican Wrestler's Mask



You will kindly remove your mask. Now... ...get undressed. (image via fashionweekdaily)

If you are Kanye West you are in a bind. You are an urban icon, but you get an invite to The Young Friends of Save Venice’s Red & White Masked Ball. How to attend -- you really can't say no to something like that -- and still maintain some street cred. Well, if you're Kanye West you ... put on a Mexican luchadore mask ... W-to-theT-to-the-F?! Says Fashionweekdaily:

“'I left Venice in the care of good hands, don’t you think?' surveyed Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos as she arrived at the Young Friends of Save Venice’s Red & White Masked Ball. As a former co-chair of the much-anticipated annual fête, she relished the results of the hard work of chairperson Adelina Wong Ettelson, who, together with honorary benefit chairman Sarah Siegel-Magness (who sponsored the night along with Related and Prada) and a contingent of lovely co-chairs and vice-chairs—including Olivia Chantecaille, Susan Shin, Alex Lind Rose, Annelise Peterson, and Eva Lorenzotti—helped make Thursday night’s festivities at the Metropolitan Club a smashing success. 'We’ve already raised enough money to restore Doge’s Private Chapel in Venice,' Wong Ettelson proudly announced during dinner, before raffling off a bevy of prizes including a Verdura cuff and a Prada handbag.

"Earlier in the evening, as a parade of red gowns and jeweled masks made its way up the marble steps, a photo frenzy ensued as Kanye West—much to the surprise of most—arrived arm-in-arm with both Siegel-Magness and his fiancée, Alexis Pfeiffer. Turns out the entire troupe had just flown in from Las Vegas, following West’s concert. 'This is a Mexican wrestling mask,' he proudly described of his headpiece. 'I wanted something that just popped.'"

In Carny wrestling slang, "pop" means, "a sudden crowd reaction." Our sudden reaction was, of course, an exaggerated cough followed by feigned detachment.