Fashion mogul Kim Kardashian recently unveiled her SKIMS collaboration with Dolce & Gabbana, which is set to debut on Nov. 19. However, the accompanying campaign for the new capsule collection is garnering all of the attention.
The Dolce & Gabbana x SKIMS campaign, shot by renowned photographer Nadia Lee Cohen, channels the glamour of 1960s Italy and appears to pay homage to iconic Italian actress Sophia Loren. Starring Kim and her sister Kourtney Kardashian, the visuals aim to exude vintage allure while blending high fashion with the SKIMS aesthetic.
Kim was excited and promoted the line on several posts on her Instagram, a place usually reserved for brands that pay millions just for placement. Her 359 million followers enthusiastically received the project and congratulated her on the major deal.
However, not everyone is impressed by the throwback vibe of the advertisement.
Critics are now accusing the Kardashian sisters, who are of Armenian heritage, of once again crossing cultural boundaries. The campaign and the two reality stars are being called out on social media for appropriating Southern European identity.
When Fashion Bomb Daily posted the promotion, the comments showed just how floored many of their followers were.
“The way they culture appropriate really is insane,” one person said.
Another wrote, “Not then (sic) cosplaying as Italians. I mean what race won’t they cosplay at this point.”
Someone else said, regarding any campaign the sisters participate in, “It’s always cosplay.”
Another person added, “I hope the Italian grandma and granddaddy are AI because why are you bothering these people while dressed in underwear lol.”
One person tweeted, “More culture appropriation from this white Armenian.”
One follower took issue with them likening themselves to Loren’s fashion style, writing, “They take icons, and attached their names to it. When you google ‘Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe etc…’ their names come up. Keeping them associated with greatness. There’s suck lack of originality, wash rinse and repeat.”
More culture appropriation from this white Armenian
— NC (@Money_Mo_213) November 14, 2024
There may be some truth to the Kardashians being associated with some of the biggest celebrities in history, by dressing up like them and in a few case wearing dresses and jewelry that once belonged to the deceased stars.
In 2022, Kim wore the same dress that Marilyn Monroe wore to sing “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to then-President John F. Kennedy on his 45th birthday sixty years earlier. The dress was sheer, with 2,500 rhinestones embedded in the fabric.
Historians and the owners who have worked to preserve the gown’s historicity say that she ruined the dress. They claimed that she returned the dress with the fabric stretched out and said that there were new holes on the garment. The owners also said that some of the rhinestones were either barely attached or had fallen off completely.
This was not the only dress of the blond bombshell actress that the mother of four has worn over the last few years. She also wore Monroe’s green sequined Norman Norell gowns from the 1962 Golden Globes.
Recently, Kardashian made headlines by wearing a necklace featuring the Attallah cross once worn by Princess Diana. The crafted from gold, silver, amethyst, and diamonds was a noted signature piece of the Princess of Wales.
The cross’ original owner Naim Attallah, who often let Diana wear it, sold it to Kardashian after she won it in an auction in January 2023.
Kim wore the necklace for the first time publicly on her 44th birthday in October and then at the 2024 Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s (LACMA) Art+Film Gala on Nov. 2.
In addition to getting pushback for dressing like legends, she has been accused of appropriating Black culture.
One of the many times she was checked for her insertion into Black culture was when she rocked some Fulani braids and then said that they originated with a 1970s white actress who wore them in 1979 in the movie “10.”
She hopped on Snapchat and said she was rocking the “Bo Derek Braids.”
Fans were quick to remind her that those hairstyles are rooted in Africa and encouraged her to educate herself.
