Juliye has met its demise, and on Valentine’s Day, no less. Rapper Kanye West and Uncut Gems actress Julia Fox announced the end of their fashion experiment situationship on Monday, February 14, in two separate, but extremely on-brand, messages. The couple’s split comes on the tail end of a Kanye West Instagram-posting frenzy Super Bowl Sunday, where he came for his estranged wife Kim Kardashian West’s new beau, ferry owner Pete Davidson, and asserted, “I HAVE FAITH THAT WE’LL BE BACK TOGETHER.†(All this just one week ahead of Donda 2’s alleged release date.)
Fox appeared unbothered by the mess. On Instagram Stories, she called herself a “#1 hustler†and claimed that she and West are no longer dating and still on good terms, before plugging her forthcoming memoir.
However, the relationship didn’t start this fraught. The golden epoch of Juliye began at a New Year’s party in Miami, where the pair reportedly felt an instant connection. Below, Vulture breaks down a chronological list of extreme highs and lows from their whirlwind romance.
WHOA: Juliye’s date nights get spicy.
On January 4, a few days after their fortuitous meeting, the two celebrities attended Jeremy O. Harris’s Slave Play in New York. Slave Play is a three-act theatrical experience that follows three interracial couples as they role-play slave-master relationships in an antebellum setting. I’ll never knock good theater, but Slave Play, deemed one of the most controversial and challenging Broadway productions, is a pretty spicy second date. Thankfully, they were able to decompress and presumably exchange their highfalutin ideas on the state of theater over spicy rigatoni pasta at Carbone later that night.
HIGH: A very public “Cinderella moment.â€
In the Instagram photos published by Interview Mag, Fox straddles West on a set that closely resembles a coat check in a fancy hotel. The moment occurred after dinner, when West led Fox to a hotel where he had prepared an entire hotel suite full of clothes. “It felt like a real Cinderella moment,†Fox wrote in Interview Mag. The clothes might’ve been the first step in Fox’s transformation into a Kim Kardashian West doppelgänger, but love is love, I guess.
LOW: Podcast denials.
On January 13, Fox denied that their relationship was a stunt on an episode of her podcast, Forbidden Fruits. She also established that they’re both very chill artist types and are fine with “no labels.†She added, “It’s such a Gemini-Aquarius connection. It’s very inspirational.â€
HIGH: Matching Canadian tuxedos
In a move that rivaled Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake’s infamous red-carpet moment, Fox and West made a denim-on-denim Fashion Week appearance, complete with matching black gloves. These coordinated outfits marked the start of a long strand of matching clothes that would come to define the couple’s short-lived aesthetic. Also included: low-, low-rise jeans, black crop tops, and an empty gaze.
Two days later on January 24, they attended the Schiaparelli fashion show decked out in all-black supervillain garb. Julia Fox served Black Swan realness with her heavy black eyeliner — which West smudged himself — while he donned a black ski mask.
LOW: The jeans.
HIGH: Bestie Birkins.
Fox’s birthday festivities took place on February 2 at Lucien and Sei Less in NYC. West gifted the actress’s friends several Hermès Birkin bags, which are widely known as some of the most expensive handbags in the world, with prices between $9,000 and half a million dollars. Even if their two-month relationship is really over, the Birkins are still a nice souvenir.
LOW: Instagram clapbacks.
On February 7, Fox unfollowed multiple fan accounts and deleted all photos of the rapper from her Instagram, stoking speculation that the pair had broken up. Fox addressed the rumors, saying, “Guys, relax, I unfollowed the fan accounts because I was tired of seeing myself. Suddenly Instagram was not a fun place anymore.â€
WHOA: “YOU WILL NEVER MEET MY CHILDREN.â€
West trended above the Super Bowl on Sunday as he took to Instagram to express his frustrations with comedian Pete Davidson in a series of now-deleted social-media posts. West posted diss after diss on Davidson, referring to him as “Hillary Clinton’s ex-boyfriend,†referencing a tattoo Davidson got of the politician in 2017. In another post, West displayed a text allegedly sent by Pete Davidson, where he promises West he won’t interfere with the lives of his children. “NO YOU WILL NEVER MEET MY CHILDREN,†West responded.
THE ULTIMATE LOW: Making things krystal klear.
On Valentine’s Day, West and Fox’s dramatic relationship seemed to fizzle out, with Fox releasing a statement that she and West are “still on good terms.†She condemned the media for painting her as a “sad lonely woman crying on a plane by myself,†denying that she was upset about the alleged split and asserting that the “only time I cried in 2022 was on Feb 6th on my dead BFF bday.â€
Kanye, on the other hand, is still relentlessly courting Kim K., with a recent post of a truck full of roses with the words “MY VISION IS KRYSTAL KLEAR†emblazoned on the sides. We should all aspire to be that unfazed.