Kanye takes a bow following his Paris runway debut.

Kanye West's clothing line debut, which showed this past Saturday at Paris Fashion Week, was a clear lesson on the chasm between liking fashion and being able to successfully create it. 

The rapper pulled out all the stops for his big moment-- securing the historic Lycee Henri IV as location, inviting critics and style-savvy celebrities-- and begged the fashion world to be kind. 

"I took out motherf---ing loans to get the best models, to get the best designers, to get the best venue. I gave you everything that I had…This is my first collection. Please be easy. Please give me a chance to grow," Kanye implored the crowd, according to Women's Wear Daily. 

The fashion world all agreed on the last point: there is definitely room to grow. The hip-hop influenced line, reportedly titled DW after Kanye's deceased mother Donda West, echoed iconic looks from runways past-- other people's runways, that is-- and revealed a lack of knowledge of fabric choice, proper fit, and sense of proportion. New York Times Style writer Cathy Horyn tweeted during the show, "Next season Kanye should get a tailor so clothes might fit. Models swimming in some looks.

 The peach pink dress is a prime example. While the color is spot on for spring and the diagonally placed zippers a fresh innovation (or re-interpretation of Balmain, as it were), exhibiting Kanye's good taste, the choice of leather makes it heavy and inappropriate for a Spring/Summer line, and the lack of tailoring leaves the dress hanging loose on the model in all the wrong places.

Similarly, the third look to parade down the runway was a clear reference to Piet Mondrian-style colorblocking, something both Givenchy and Ghesquiere for Balenciaga have successfully channeled in the past. But the DW shirt gapes open at the chest a little much, while the loose skirt/pants combination leaves the outfit looking more sloppy than soignée. A tailored pant or tight-fitting skirt might have better balanced the flowing, albeit ill-fitting, blouse.

To be sure, in the words of designer and friend Jeremy Scott, "This is no J. Lo basics line," but the looks shown aspire to a level that simply cannot be executed without experience in the couture craft. The fact that the runway samples were stitched together in three days, according to Style.com, as opposed to the weeks established designers  set aside for construction, only added to the problem. Another anomaly was the excessive amounts of leather and fur, normally reserved for fall collections.

But aside from what we all know-- that West is an amateur designer-- there were definitely some standout pieces. The ruched off-white column skirt and crop-top, for example, exhibited clean lines and a gorgeous sense of movement, as did the minimalist nude minidress with the parachute strap-style fur backpack. His hip hop roots were clear in the gold name-plate necklaces accompanying every look, as well as the mountains of fur and the zip-up with a cartoon mouth hood. Giuseppe Zanotti designed the fur open-toed heels worn by most of the models.

Tim Blanks at Style.com said it best: There isn't a fashion designer alive who could match Kanye's music. The real question seems to be why he needs a line to feel like he's taken seriously by the fashion world.

While his experiment in fashion produced, in many critics' words, the good, the bad, and the ugly (look for the tiger sequin bolero and period-stain pants), West went above and beyond what other celebrities have done. Rather than creating a "collection" to simply expand a commercial empire, he undertook a project for the honest love of it-- an imperfect love, but undeniably a valiant effort. Kanye is a fashion amateur in the truest sense of the word: a lover of fashion with the means to pursue it.

The full line can be seen here.

Reach reporter America Hernandez here.