How the Kardashians are rethinking the spotlight
IT’S HARD TO REMEMBER a time when the Kardashian family wasn’t everywhere you looked. From TV screens to your Instagram feed, for the best part of 15 years, the Kardashians – Kim, Khloé, Kourtney, plus matriarch Kris – have dominated pop culture.
But could their reign be at the beginning of its end? A recent report by The New York Post’s Page Six hinted that the family may have been blacklisted from the Met Gala – with some reports suggesting that the story of Kim’s extreme weight loss in order to fit into Marilyn Monroe’s dress for last year’s Gala was bad publicity for the event. While neither the Kardashians, the Met, nor Anna Wintour have commented publicly on the rumours, the news has sparked rumblings on Tiktok that we are in our ‘Kardashian fatigue’ era.
It’s certainly true that, as well as the weight loss story, Kim’s ex-husband Kanye West’s offensive remarks, including anti-semitism, hit the family. They also got caught up in the 2021 Astroworld disaster centring around Kylie’s baby daddy Travis Scott, in which 10 people died. (Much was made of the family’s apparently understated response.) The most recent season of the Kardashians’ reality show on Disney+ has compounded matters, with viewers complaining that this off-screen drama isn’t addressed.
And yet, you’d be foolish to write off the Kardashians. Kim, queen of the multihyphenate pivot, has spent the past few years rebranding herself. She has focused on her legal career, passing the bar exam in 2021, and now campaigns for criminal justice reform. She’s diversified into private equity, with a company, Skky Partners, set to invest in businesses the Kardashians tip for future success.
A branding and marketing expert in LA, who asked not to be named, argues that this is a crucial moment for the Kardashian clan, who have lived out their brands via social media for over a decade. ‘Tiktok has democratised influencing, made it feel more grassroots and relatable, and the way the Kardashians do things is on such a huge scale,’ they explained, adding that the family almost defines the perfectly curated world of Instagram, rather than the more messy world of Tiktok. And so, enter North West, nine-year-old daughter of Kim and Kanye, who has already amassed a cult following of 15.2 million on the platform with her funny videos (in which Kim often features in an uncharacteristically casual cameo).
So, while the Kardashian kids are poised to take the public spotlight – a savvy move in a world currently obsessed with nepo babies – the Kardashian seniors might be more than comfortable focusing on their roles behind the scenes. Thanks to years of astute groundwork, Kim’s shapewear company Skims and Khloé’s denim brand Good American are today each valued at $1.6bn, while Kylie Cosmetics is valued at over $1bn. Hardly the signs of a family in decline.
Gen Z may have coined the term Kardashian fatigue, but don’t rush to write off America’s most famous family just yet. After all, when has social media criticism ever stopped the queens of reinvention?