For the past six months or so, Kim Kardashian has been wearing Fendi and Balenciaga almost exclusively. The choice of wearing Fendi was a branding/synergy thing: last year, Kim agreed to a SKIMS and Fendi collaboration, one which sold out and did great things for both Fendi and SKIMS. The Balenciaga thing didn’t make as much sense, and I just assumed that Kim had a good friendship with Balenciaga chief designer Demna Gvasalia. Well, that was true, but there was something else happening: Kim is the new face of Balenciaga. She’s fronting a major ad campaign for the company.
Kim Kardashian has made her ties to Balenciaga (extra) official. Six months into adopting head-to-toe Demna designs as her uniform, the 41-year-old mogul is now the star of its latest campaign. The second installment of this season’s ongoing ad campaign also features returning stars Justin Bieber and Isabelle Huppert, as well as two newcomers, the models Marie-Agnès Diene and Tommy Blue. Stef Mitchell photographed each in the spaces where they live and work—at home in Calabasas and Paris for Kardashian and Huppert, respectively, and in L.A. at his favorite studio for Bieber. In a true show of Demna’s love for Kardashian, she’s the only face to earn a post on Balenciaga’s Instagram feed, which is at the moment otherwise entirely blank.
Honestly, the campaign is pretty cool? I know Kim’s not everyone’s flavor and yes, she’s done and said a lot of problematic sh-t. But I still enjoy the fact that short, curvy Kim is being treated as a genuine model for a high-fashion line. Stef Mitchell did a great job with the photos too. Balenciaga cleared their IG except for one image of Kim as well.
As one friend just remarked to me, Kim's lawyers are next level for ensuring that Fendi and Balenciaga allowed for there be non exclusivity clauses in her contracts with both of them. She's Kim Kardashian and she WON'T be relegated to one fashion house. Queen
— Liz Kardash (@lizpkardash) February 1, 2022
Photos courtesy of Stef Mitchell for Balenciaga, Kim’s Instagram, Backgrid.
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- New York, NY – Kim Kardashian returns to her hotel, changes, and heads to a Met Gala after-party. Pictured: Kim Kardashian BACKGRID USA 13 SEPTEMBER 2021 BYLINE MUST READ: T.JACKSON / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New York, NY – Kim Kardashian is a goddess in all pink as she arrives at the SNL after party at the ZeroBond in New York City. Pictured: Kim Kardashian BACKGRID USA 9 OCTOBER 2021 BYLINE MUST READ: PapCulture / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen at arrivals for Camp: Notes on Fashion Met Gala Costume Institute Annual Benefit – Part 3, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY May 6, 2019. Photo By: Kristin Callahan/
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- Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen at arrivals for Camp: Notes on Fashion Met Gala Costume Institute Annual Benefit – Part 3, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY May 6, 2019. Photo By: Kristin Callahan/
I am not a fan of Balenciaga as it has been designed for the last 10-15 years, but Kim looks good. The black coat is nice.
Balenciaga is a v v old house. This is an attempt to bring in a more youthful (KKW is 40 but her “minions” are younger) clientele. The question is will such a gamble work. Many of the houses more loyal customers might question the choice of KKW. Whether she will actually made a mark pro or con remains to be seen. I don’t consider KKW high fashion so I find a house w/a storied reputation to take a “step down” interesting. She is an atypical model size, short & curvy. Will the brand actually have that or will they only custom for print
All I see is Real Housewives of New Jersey? Those bags are super ugly.
You often hear people say couture is a good investment because the pieces are timeless but I don’t see it with any of these pieces except maybe the coat.
I feel very “the emperor has no clothes” within these comments so maybe I am wrong!
They probably view it as a win-win. For Kim, it matures her branding and keeps her fashion credo intact post-Kanye, who really fought to get her acceptance in the fashion world in general. For Balenciaga, it opens them to a different market. I do think she looks great in these clothes as well.
I think the lime-green bag is cute (agree that the white one is hideous) but at that price point, I would want something I can wear with everything for years. I am not their target customer, though! I guess they’re betting that the “influencer” crowd that has all that Insta endorsement $$ will buy these accessories if the influencer queen models it? The booties are also hideous, lol.
I do think it’s interesting/progress for someone with Kim’s dimensions to be fronting a haute couture fashion campaign. She photographs very well. I also like to think that there is a tiny element of putting the screws to Kanye since he’s such a “high fashion” devotee and wears (ugly) Balenciaga often.
I have no strong opinion on Kim, but I like these outfits!
Same. I have no strong opinion on Kim, but it’s pretty unusual for a high end brand (if that’s what this is) to use a model who is 5 feet tall and far from sample size. I realize nothing on her is even remotely natural, but even so it’s rare to get a look at what clothes look like on someone shorter than six feet, rounder than a super model. So this is new and I don’t hate it.
Same – Kim is meh but the outfits are gorgeous.
My question is which face will she be using? Tbh I would have preferred the Samoyeds as models.
How much is she getting paid? Or is the partnership payment enough!
Kim looks good.
take that, Kanye! he gonna be so mad.
I agree – I love that they are using curvy, short Kim. She is way closer to my body than any high fashion model so I love to see it personally.
I wonder Kanye’s reaction? Will he be proud because “he built her” as a fashion muse or will he be pissed that his new muse/doll isn’t the one with the deal and Kim is thriving without him?
I basically said same above. She’s 41, about 5 feet tall, and while her curves are dramatically enhanced, they still give shorter curvier women a whole different perspective on what clothes might look like on us. If this begins a trend of middle aged models with varying body types, I’m down for that.
You really think anyone just sees someone short and curvy? No. Kim represents all that is fake, plastic, botoxed and surgeries, photoshop and contouring. Not to mention everything that the name Kardashian represents. The last thing that she represents is a short woman with curves.
A lot of advanced fashion is not made with her body type in mind so it’s really cool how good she looks in Balenciaga.
She’s had so much plastic surgery. The clothes are beautiful, though.
The clothes are beautiful, and the photographer/stylist/set designer did a great job making them stand out, but yes, this is the exact same dead-eyed, plastic Kim we’ve always seen.
And while the photos are good, the bizarre video where she’s on the couch fumbling with the green bag is WTF levels of strange. Was that the best take? Was the fact that it looked like a rehearsal shot where you laugh at your awkwardness and promise you’ll get it when you do it for real the goal of the video? Is it just too high art for me to understand? I don’t get it.
I like these outfits a lot better than the stuff she’s been wearing lately, with the head to toe coverage cat suits and, worse, boot pants! You don’t have to be a fan of a celebrity to like an outfit or movie or product.
Kim just interests me for some reason, to see her commoditizing herself and reinventing herself for the fame machine. Where does the person end and the product begin? Is there even a difference?
I’m not a big fan of any of the K’s, but she’s probably the one I feel actually works, or whatever these people do that qualifies as ‘work’.
With that, it is nice to see her in actual fashion and not Kanye’s mish mashed collection of farm wear/weirdo tennis shoes/over priced joggers (that you can LITERALLY buy anywhere) and puffy coats…
Everything about her is fake. Get a real model with real curves. She cheapens every brand she represents.
It’s a shame she’s the barometer today and that she’s the face of a company’s future, but here we are. I’m sure it will be successful because apparently young women praise an unattainable visage without plastic surgery and 24/7 self adoration. Those purses are hysterical. More like the phone carrier. And those shoes! Lmao.
Nowadays it’s a trashy brand for talentless wannabe rich people. Her modeling for them is on brand I think.
Kim may not have a typical model figure, but her body shape is every bit as unrealistic and unattainable. (She looks much more polished and put-together than Julia Fox, though.)
Also those sock booties are hideous.
Good for her, but she doesn’t look comfortable at all!
Why pick any “model” who they need to shoot, who needs to pose to hide their azz rather than show off the body and clothes. She isn’t a good clothes hanger. A larger person is different, the person and proportions are natural but everything about her is manufactured.
I like the leopard print coat look.
It looks like Kim left her feet in those shoes. Hilarious and creepy and just adding to the fake plastic doll vibe.
How do you say Tacky in haute couture …the house has sadly been tacky for years. Her main fan base can’t even buy decent makeup therefore they spend their money on the cheap junk this family sells how are they even going to afford the hyper expensive tacky stuff that the house sells?!? Horrible all of it.