From The Straits Times    |

Image: Alyssa Woo

Hundreds of Kanye West fans queued yesterday at Suntec City to get their hands on the rapper’s The Life Of Pablo merchandise.

The pop-up store, which opened at noon of Friday, August 19, attracted a queue of at least 300 people at 1.30pm. Some had been waiting since 2am the day before.

Hotel guest relations executive Puteri Nurshadrina, 24, says she found out about the store on Twitter and started queueing at 3am. There were about 15 people in the line before her. She spent a total of $430 on clothes and accessories.

“I’m going to come back tomorrow (Saturday) to get the green military jacket and black satin bomber. I plan to come back at around 3am. I’m going home to sleep now.”

West announced on his Twitter account earlier last week that he would be opening 21 pop-up shops around the world last weekend. The three-day pop-up in Singapore is expected to close at 8pm on Sunday. (now closed)

The pop-ups are a precursor to his The Saint Pablo North American tour, which begins on Thursday, for his platinum The Life Of Pablo album.

Other cities with pop-up stores include New York, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Melbourne, London and Berlin. Singapore is the only location in Asia.

Merchandise in the Singapore pop-up store includes T-shirts ($60), hoodies ($130), hats ($50) and a bomber jacket ($340).

The 39-year-old rapper, who is married to reality television star Kim Kardashian, has opened temporary stores before. In 2013, a pop-up was launched in New York to coincide with his Yeezus tour.

His work in the fashion industry goes back to 2009, when he collaborated with sports label Nike to release the Air Yeezy sneakers. Since then, the father-of-two has collaborated with sportswear brand Adidas and released his own clothing lines.

His latest collection, Yeezy Season 3, premiered in February at Madison Square Garden in conjunction with the launch of his album The Life Of Pablo.

The pop-up store was located at Suntec City, 3 Temasek Boulevard, Tower 1, and is now already closed.

A version of this story was originally published in The Straits Times on August 20, 2016. For more stories like this, head to www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle.