Why does a wild American family matter to Indian fashion entrepreneurs? Because they set style goals, made marketing history, and spun moolah from thin air.
Sisters Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner and Kendall Jenner at the 2019 Met Gala. Keeping Up With the Kardashians’ new seasons drop on Netflix India this month. Pic/Getty Images
Search the phrase, Kim Kardashian West innovator, on Google, and the results page throws up with enthusiasm news of the Skims founder receiving the Wall Street Journal’s Brand Innovator award on October 25, and how she narrowly avoided a “fashion emergency” at the event. Even when malfunctions happen to Kardashian West, she still makes happy headlines. “Every day, I’m inspired by Kim and her business savvy. Love or hate her, but you cannot ignore her. She is an icon,” says Mumbai-based fashion and beauty entrepreneur Masaba Gupta.
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Fashion and costume stylist Anaita Shroff Adajania calls her a marketing genius. “She is one celebrity who drives home the message; be true to who you are.” Adajania, who styled Kardashian West for the March 2018 Vogue India cover, remembers her as down-to-earth with an impressive work ethic. “Being Kim Kardashian and the influence she exerts, we expected to welcome her with an entourage. But she walked in alone,” she adds.
Kim Kardashian (centre) celebrates the launch of inclusive shapewear brand Skims at Nordstrom, NYC store in 2020
The Kardashian family rose to stardom in 2007 with their American reality show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians (KUWTK).This came after the release of the family’s second-oldest daughter Kim’s sex tapes with then partner Ray-J. They had filmed themselves on a Mexico trip on camcorder. Until then, she was a little known personal stylist. In June this year, the smash hit show’s final 20th season aired on E! Entertainment network. Netflix India is set to launch new seasons of KUWTK on November 17.
When Kim described her family as a “modern-day Brady bunch, with a kick” in the launch episode, she wasn’t joking. Indians aren’t strangers to the nuts and bolts that make the joint family concept, but this swaggering American bunch took it a notch higher. The audience met Kris and Caitlyn Jenner (formerly known as Bruce before her transition), the Kardashian oldest daughters and son, Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob, and the youngest Jenner daughters, Kendall and Kylie in Calabasas, Los Angeles.
The Karda-shian-Jenners in 2011. (left to right) Khloé, Kylie, Kris, Kourtney, Kim and Kendall. Pics/Getty Images
No other reality show has come close to their cultural omnipresence; they had the knack of promoting their lives as brands. In an interview with Krishnan Guru-Murthy in 2018, actor Jameela Jamil called the Kardashians “double agents”. “Just because you look like a woman, we trust you and think you’re on our side but… you’re only selling us self-consciousness,” Jamil said.
No episode was devoid of relationship drama, sibling quarrels, sobbing spectacles, wild parties and wilder costumes. Think Juicy Couture tracksuits, corsets, bandage dresses in satin, boot-cut jeans, bedazzled hoodies, biker shorts, lace bodysuits, crop tops, Lycra, neon and latex.
“In one episode, Kris [Jenner] tells 10 year-old Kendall that money does not grow on trees. To which, Kendall responds: ‘Of course, it does, it’s paper’.
I knew then that she’d become a supermodel,” laughs Delhi designer Anand Bhushan, a fan of the show. Bhushan has carefully watched and analysed all 20 seasons. “My favourite episodes are the ones where Kanye West shows up. He made the show glamorous.”
We decided to get fashion insiders and fans of the show to discuss why the Kardashian-Jenners permeated the popular culture.
‘They taught young designers marketing is king, not the product’ » Anand Bhushan
Anand Bhushan
No matter what anyone says, the Kardashian-Jenners are the holy grail of fashion. Most of us want to escape reality, and have little interest in extolling virtues of inner beauty. They used tools of fashion and beauty to tap into women’s insecurities of gaining weight and feeling undesirable, and ended up building a multimillion-dollar empire. Isn’t that the very concept of popular culture?
The rise of the Kardashian phenomenon was neither a fluke nor luck. It was meticulously planned out by ‘momager’ Kris Jenner. Every super-hit idea, including Skims, took birth on the show. The ambition and vision is all hers; she stirred stories.
By the time platforms like Instagram and Twitter fully took off, the sisters had already identified its global impact. They practically became the prototype for what the future ‘influencer’ and ‘celebrity endorsers’ would look like. They taught us that marketing is king, not the product. You can see this message intonated on social media with young designers marketing a product over design.
We are already prophesying Metaverse, loosely explained as an extensive online world where people interact via digital avatars. Now, imagine 10 Kardashian-Jenners in that universe!
‘Kim encouraged body positivity, made curvy aspirational’ » Anaita Shroff Adajania
Anaita Shroff Adajania
I haven’t really watched the show, but I am familiar with the phenomenon that is Kim Kardashian. She is a global fashion icon, her style always evolving to stay ahead of the game.
She encouraged body positivity and made the curvy frame aspirational. Like most Indian women, no matter how hard I try, I’m never going to have a skinny derriere, and I intuitively relate to Kim’s confidence. She has created a fashion eco-system for real women beyond the confines of the fashion runway. The real triumph of her brand is her ability to look into her personal experiences and create a product around it. Take for example, Skims. She looked at a blind spot for shapewear that was colour and size inclusive, and launched a successful business.
She was one of the first celebrities to understand the potential of social media beyond entertainment, turning the platform not just into a place to learn of attainable trends, but also serious business opportunities. What’s disheartening, however, is when I see armies of young influencers blindly ape her, effectively, diluting their individuality for the sake of clicks. It’s lazy. They forget that she stood for individuality, and that her style is innately hers.
‘Kardashian-Jenner women can churn money off anything’» Masaba Gupta
Masaba Gupta
Often, our intellectual ego dictates that we watch shows that enrich our minds, and not dwell on the private lives of celebrities. KUWTK was not top-notch TV, but a feel-good series that never failed to give us the guilty rush we crave. I remember watching Kim on the David Letterman Show; she is not a bimbette that people make her out to be. Being a successful woman entrepreneur is not easy. The Kardashian-Jenner women can churn money off anything. When a man does it, he is applauded, so why judge them? Everybody wants to look like a Kardashian on social media—perky buttocks, nude lips and cinched waist. That’s okay to a point before lines get distorted when you allow the ‘look’ to define who you are.
Do I aspire to look like them? Maybe not. But I am inspired by Kylie’s business acumen; she created a celebrity makeup empire. I’m a big fan of Kim’s fashion aesthetic and her sharp entrepreneurial skills. She makes me sit up and take notice, like the all-black outfit at the recent MET gala. I started applying lip liner with lipstick after I saw Kim and Kourtney wear it on the show.
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