Maybe this knocked Kanye West's ego down a few notches, at least temporarily. The 'Yeezus' rapper has always been a fashion aficionado, but that doesn't mean the love is reciprocated.

When Yeezy helped French fashion house A.P.C.'s founder Jean Touitou with some designs, Touitou had no idea who he was -- and called him Kenny.

"Over two years ago, a visitor to the A.P.C. studio was announced to me as 'Kenny,'" Touitou said in a release for his and West's collection (via Us Weekly). "He wanted my advice on the fashion industry; although I found such a request quite vague, as a mutual friend introduced us, I met with the guy."

Touitou continued, "The guy talks, talks and talks and I was having a good time listening. He had nice manners and spoke about losing his mother [Donda West] in a surgery accident, about losing his girlfriend too, and about how difficult doing the right thing in fashion was."

The big reveal came when Touitou finally started to ask questions. "After a while, I was curious to know what this gentleman was currently doing in his life," Touitou said. "I simply asked him: 'May I know what your trade is, sir?' He took his shades down, so that finally I could see his eyes, and answered me: 'I am a hip hop artist.'"

And remember all that time West spent in Paris? You can blame that on Touitou, who suggested it. "At some point my crew informed me that his name was West, Kanye West. I introduced him to the A.P.C. design studio, and he kept asking how he could start something in that fashion industry. This is when we all advised him to start that something in France, and keep quiet about fashion noise while learning about it."

West? Quiet? Good luck, bro.

Touitou also got a first row seat to the making of 'Watch the Throne' with Ye's BFF before creating their own art together. Eventually their friendship led to a "small capsule collection" featuring jeans, a hoodie and a T-shirt.

Says Touitou, "Those are precious to me and to Kanye too, because it took time and thoughts to get there."

As for West's take on the collabo? He summed it up in a rare, humble tweet:

More From StarCrush