If I asked you which celebrity you associate with Balenciaga right now, you’d probably have an answer right away - and it would probably be Kim Kardashian. If I asked you why they chose her, however, you may take a bit longer to answer. Because while we know the answer is “marketing”, we also know that doesn’t quite sit right in such a creative industry.
It’s the same story we’ve watched so many times - someone with a large online following seems to be spoiled with gifts and opportunities from a creative industry we’ve never seen them in before. We want to be happy for our peers, so why does it feel so infuriating to see this success? Watching the way Kim interacts with the brands she promotes and the individual consumers she’s promoting to seems to give a more transparent picture of how we’re marketed to in 2022.
KIM ON INSTAGRAM
I can guarantee you that you could scour the internet for days and probably never find an exact fee that Miss Kardashian charges for an Instagram post. If it could be done, I would have done it, trust me... We know, however, they're well over your yearly salary for each post. In a recent lawsuit involving EthereumMax (a crypto company Kim was paid to promote in a "misleading" way), it was reported that Kim Kardashian charges $300,000 - $500,000 per instagram story post. Some sources have alleged she can charge up to $850,000 for a single 24 hours post. Obviously this example is very large scale, but brands' willingness to spend this much money on influencers poses two questions: how much are they planning to make off of us to justify that; and where else are we being marketed to in our daily lives without knowing?
KIM IN RUNWAY SHOW
An obvious place to start an analysis of Kim's interaction with the consumer is with her recent participation in the Balenciaga runway show at Paris Fashion Week, 2022. I almost don't even want to speak about this point because it so perfectly sums up the phenomena that controversy is just as respectable of a PR tool than integrity and quality nowadays. We're all pretty sure we've seen it before but can't quite be sure - Kim telling us to "Get off our arses" right before KUWTK was rebooted, Nicki Minaj pretending to date Eminem for literally a day, Travis Scott showing humanity to Kanye right before returning to Instagram. Clicking on videos of Kimmy stumbling down that carpet looking like a scared dog really proves the old saying that "Any publicity is good publicity".
KIM'S SIMPLE AESTHETIC
Now we come to the point that infuriates everyone that grew up eating curried sausages and wearing hand-me-down BIG-W school shoes - simple and poor as an aesthetic. Many people may think Kim doesn't play into this trend because she shows a lavish lifestyle, but her lifestyle is far more than just lavish. It's ornate beyond recognition to the average person. From promoting the Balenciaga "Trash Bag" that retails at $2,580AUD to the finsta-style posts she makes on her Instagram whenever she's in hot water, Kim has pretty much mastered the art of forming camaraderie with the lower class while not giving up any of her privileges of a mega-rich lifestyle. While we see Kim's "humanity", what we see much less of is the church her mother owns that she donates millions to, or the piano player she hired for ambience in her house one month. Marie Antionette never died - she's just promoting cake on Instagram now.
FASHION IN 2022
Being either a creative or a consumer in the fashion industry in 2022 feels far more overwhelming than I remember it ever feeling. I never used to worry too much if the clothes I was buying would last the season, and I knew although the models on runways had their own issues with the industry they were at least being given a career. Now nothing seems to last long anymore - not clothing, not collections or seasons, not a company's transparency, models and designers are used as temporary pawns to help those with influence gain more influence - all while those who have money and notoriety continue to gain money and notoriety.
That being said, I am still a huge advocate for social media as an amazing tool for creative inspiration, connection and expression. I think of all different areas of the world giving identity to the fashion industry, and now we can access those cultures and energies at the tap of a finger to be inspired by. We can look up our favourite McQueen runway show, or be inspired by our family's heritage. As well as that, the reach of our activism is far further than it's ever been before. It's no longer controversial for us to protest our values through our designs like Westwood, and I think we have the internet to largely thank for that freedom and education.
My overall opinion is that just like with everything in society that continues to evolve and change, we can't maintain a mindful and all-inclusive fashion industry without periodically stepping back and assessing points of tension that are presenting themselves as we move through this new sphere. Whether you agree or not, these conversations prompt us to consider the way we walk through the world in our expression. But what do you think? Do you like the shifts we're seeing in creative industries? Do you feel positively or negatively towards the use of social media in fashion?