“When we look at the world, we see fashion, sports, movies, TV, books: They are all just different aspects of global entertainment consumption,” Ariel Emanuel, an executive at WME/IMG, an entertainment giant that has a hand in 13 major fashion events around the world, told the New York Times in September. Nobody makes that case better than West.

Athleisure, streetwear, and gender-neutral dressing

Yeezy’s clothes are basically a cornucopia of the biggest trends in fashion. Athleisure, the gym-ready style so prominent that it’s now in the dictionary, is one of the pillars of West’s work. A lot of his clothes are high-end sweats, including sweatpants and sweatshirts, and the sneakers he makes with Adidas remain one of his most popular items.

The huge influence that fashion labels have increasingly found in streetwear brands, such as Supreme and A Bathing Ape, also shows up in his camouflage pieces, bomber jackets, and big sweatshirts. By no coincidence, Virgil Abloh, West’s creative director, is also the founder of streetwear-inspired label Off-White.

Gender-neutral clothing has turned up more and more on fashion’s biggest runways. So naturally, from his first Yeezy collection, West has presented men and women together, dressed in clothes that don’t vary much by gender.

At the same time that references to designer Martin Margiela have increased in hip-hop, West has been referencing Margiela in his own clothing line. And even West’s own style evolution, from wearing American classic Ralph Lauren to more fashion-forward labels like Rick Owens, reflects a broader growing interest in designer clothing among men.

The cult of celebrity

Linked to all of these changes is celebrity’s growing importance in fashion. Social media has become a critical driver of sales, but traditional influencers, such as magazines, wield less clout than they used to. In their place, individual personalities with lots of followers are gaining ground.

It’s no coincidence that two of 2015’s top female models, Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid, have immense social followings. Both appeared in last year’s campaign for H&M’s collaboration with Balmain, the luxury label headed by Olivier Rousteing, France’s most-followed designer. West is friendly with Rousteing himself, and all that celebrity credibility helped fuel the insane frenzy around the Balmain x H&M launch.

West, of course, is married of course to Kim Kardashian, one of the most-followed people on Instagram and sister to Kendall Jenner. He’s frequently used these family connections and famous friends to help build excitement around his clothes and footwear on social media.

Of course, none of this actually speaks to whether he’s a good designer. Critics have been happy to weigh in on that, separately. But as far as the fashion business goes, Kanye West is right on trend.

📬 Sign up for the Daily Brief

Our free, fast, and fun briefing on the global economy, delivered every weekday morning.