Playboi Carti Wore Unreleased Yeezy and Launched YVL x BAPE at His ComplexCon Takeover

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Ask Playboi Carti what he’s wearing and you get two words. Walking the ComplexCon floor in Los Angeles on Sunday (Oct. 4) in a hooded, face-covering look from Ye’s unreleased Yeezy line, Carti answered the influencer ChrisTooSmoove’s fit-check questions more than once with “Season 12,” Complex reports. Ye stood next to him in all-black leather, the same day he opened Carti’s headlining set with “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.” Whether a Yeezy Season 12 actually exists hasn’t been confirmed.

Carti wasn’t a guest at ComplexCon’s 10th edition. He co-art-directed it with Fragment’s Hiroshi Fujiwara, and his Opium label ran what Complex, which puts on the convention, called a full takeover, on a weekend shadowed by the fight outside the venue that left Lucki hurt. Carti used the floor as a launchpad for YVL, short for Young Vamp Life, the brand that started with 11 colorways of fitted caps in May 2025, per Hypebeast.

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The headline piece was YVL x BAPE. Zip hoodies in red and purple BAPE camo, with big white YVL letters across the chest, came with matching fitted caps; they first appeared at ComplexCon on Oct. 3 and were online by Oct. 6, HotNewHipHop reports. It closes a loop. Carti performed “Like Weezy” at the 2025 BET Hip Hop Awards in a BAPE camo hoodie, a nod to 2000s Lil Wayne, Complex recalls, and he was on Supreme’s annual Photo Tee for Fall/Winter 2025, per REVOLT. HotNewHipHop says he marked the drop with a message about what it meant to go from Supreme to BAPE, the label Nigo founded in 1993.

Then there were the jerseys. Carti’s second collection with Mitchell & Ness runs to 13 Hardwood Classics styles, from the 76ers and Knicks to the SuperSonics, the Nuggets and an All-Star jersey, according to Complex. It is built around his habit of wearing jerseys backwards: the 76ers version carries “00,” a nod to Opium, on both the front and the back, with “YVL” on the nameplate, Complex notes. His first round, last November, covered the Lakers, Bulls, Hawks, Nets, Magic, 76ers and two Raptors styles, The Source reported.

The rarest piece never left the building. Giuseppe Zanotti raffled a single pair of its new Carti sneaker boot at ComplexCon: black leather with a snakeskin-style texture, a chunky black sole and chrome plates strapped across the front and up the ankle, HotNewHipHop reports. In a statement quoted by WWD, the Italian label called Carti “one of hip-hop’s most exciting superstars” and said the project “melds street style with luxury craft and contemporary edge.”

Always in search of interesting talent and forever inspired by the music world, Giuseppe discovered a kindred spirit in Playboi Carti and Playboi Carti in Giuseppe.

Giuseppe Zanotti, in a statement, WWD

The rest of Opium dressed for the occasion, too. Destroy Lonely brought a Von Dutch Hollywood collaboration, Ken Carson a Converse pack with his Teen X logo in place of the All Star branding, and Carti added YVL baby tees with the women’s label I.AM.GIA, Complex reported. Onstage at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday night, Carti changed into a brown Yeezy jacket and military boots under a pile of diamond chains, holding a mic with a cover by SEXISDEATH and Liam Denhamer showing Saint Michael defeating the devil. Complex ranked the weekend among his 10 best outfits ever, on a list that also includes the silver poncho he wore to close Virgil Abloh’s first Louis Vuitton show.

The Yeezy part has history. Ye cast Carti as a model for Yeezy Season 5 nearly a decade ago, Complex notes, and ComplexCon was their public reunion after a brief online feud. ChrisTooSmoove posted his day with the two on YouTube on Oct. 9. Watch it below.

Hanging Out With Playboi Carti And YEChrisTooSmoove · Watch on YouTube ↗

More details on the Zanotti partnership are expected soon, according to WWD. Season 12, for now, remains Carti’s two-word answer and nothing more official.