Image courtesy of Kardashian Jenner Productions.
‘Fearless. Heroic. Authentic. Iconic. The greatest of all time.’ These are the words Kim Kardashian used to praise Serena Williams at the CFDA Fashion Awards in 2023. One year later, we are left with one of so many memes that most people who shared it at the time probably cannot even remember. And yet, this phrase, which has long surpassed its original context, continues to invite remixes and has enriched our digital ductus. It perfectly captures Kim Kardashian’s power to harness pop culture just by doing what she does best: capitalising on culture by virtue of her mere existence – ‘I’m here, aren’t I?’
Image courtesy of Ryan Seacrest Productions.
The Kardashian sisters Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe, as well as their brother Rob, grew up as the privileged children of a third-generation Armenian-American family and went on to become the beacon of the American dream. They oscillated so wildly between ideal and stereotype that people from various different backgrounds found something they could relate to. Their silly fights, the family drama, and the absurdity of their everyday lives seemed simultaneously appealing, relatable, and out of touch. But that is exactly what draws people to reality TV – the promise of escapism. With their father Robert Kardashian, a well-known lawyer, and later ex-Olympian Caitlyn Jenner as stepparent – as well as biological parent of Kylie and Kendall – they naturally mingled with socialites and first tasted the appeal of being someone someday. Kim in particular had always wanted to be famous, as her family members remembered in an episode of E!’s True Hollywood Story highlighting Kim Kardashian-West’s way of life, her ambitions, and how she parlayed her reality TV status into an actual business, evolving from Paris Hilton’s shadow into an even bigger icon.
Between 2007 and 2021, she and the rest of the Kar-Jenner household broadcast every part of their lives. Starting with their eponymous reality show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, the family members used Twitter and other social media platforms as an extensive tool to build their infamous reputation and transform their family name into a globally known brand. Turning scandal into business, they understood the power of narrative and how to utilise the media in capturing the right angles; if that proved to be impossible, they found a way to use scandals and drama to their advantage. Examples include their TV special about Caitlyn Jenner’s coming out as a trans woman or when Kylie took over the beauty industry with her Lip Kits after being accused of having lip fillers (as it turns out, she had had some at that time). The conversation about Kim K. and her family never seemed to stop. It reached an all-time high in 2015, an era that was all about flex culture and flashing wealth, and it made Kim one of the most controversial, successful, and influential figures worldwide.
Image courtesy of Ryan Seacrest Productions.
Some believe it was lawyer Robert Kardashian and the famous murder trial in 1995 against NFL star O.J. Simpson (or, as Kim calls him, ‘Uncle O.J.’) that started the growing obsession with the Kar-Jenners. Others would suggest it was the leaked sex tape with Kim’s ex-boyfriend Ray J., which mysteriously found its way onto the screens of the general public. According to another theory, Kim’s celebrity circle did some heavy lifting in her rise to fame. All of them might be onto something; after all, a little nepotism and media interest never hurt if you want to make it in Hollywood. But it is not that simple. What we now know as the Kardashian brand slowly hatched and unfolded from so many layers – all aided by good timing and an early understanding of how to navigate the world of the rich and famous. This was an approach Kris Jenner, the sisters’ ‘momager’, adopted very early on. She knew how to seize an opportunity and appeal to the masses, and she passed this knowledge on to Kim, who now navigates her different eras and personas aligned with the zeitgeist, ‘resilient to the test of time, and reliant on formulaic storytelling,’ as Brooklyn-based writer and psychotherapist MJ Corey put it in a 2022 article for Refinery29. ‘They’re not often politically correct, they set trends and they function phenomenally as cultural fractals,’ she goes on to summarise the Kardashians’ influence on society. Others agreed: she is like a shape-shifter, equipped with a chameleon’s ability of metachrosis. ‘Kim’s distance from whiteness, however relative, made her a person of interest and revulsion — that is, a desirable person. […] Kim’s particular fame derives from a cherished place in the American racial imagination that, combined with the deathly effects (and melancholic affects) of brownness in this country while reaping the exoticism of not-quite-whiteness’, as author Lauren Michele Jackson described Kim’s appeal in a 2019 article for Slate.
Images courtesy of Ryan Seacrest Productions.
This blessing-and-curse allure followed her everywhere. Every now and then, yet another discourse or protest about how she utilised Blackness or other minority features popped up – such as when the internet thought Kim invented Fulani braids, a traditional West African hairstyle that she misnamed and introduced to the masses. The less said about her whole Kanye Kardashian-West era the better. But the business of being relevant fuels the Kardashians. Their biggest strength has always been turning drama into publicity and eventually a lucrative business. As Kim herself put it in 2024 on E! True Hollywood Story “Kim Kardashian”, ‘I think my talent is marketing and to just really feel out what good moves are.’
The Kardashians’ tone, body language, physique, tastes, and even the tiniest details are being observed and examined by the public. The common people want to wear what they are wearing and eat what they are eating; they even want to look like them, to copy every part. There is even a data collection project called Kardashian Data Koalation that puts a number on everything Kardashian: emojis, Google search spikes, or social media engagement. Even the wildest theories about the Kar-Jenners have a dedicated place where they can be discussed: the Kimposium, a conference at Brunel University London, explores topics such as ‘Pets as Narrative Device in Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ or ‘Fashion, Architecture, and the Body in Keeping Up with the Kardashians’. They never thought of themselves as just reality stars; they always had a long-term game plan in mind, working their way up from a simple family home to multi-million-dollar mansions, creating a bubble in which everything vanishes, including their original appearance that they moulded throughout different decades of beauty ideals. They treat every facet of their existence like a business venture, reaching into different sectors, always branded with their names. Khroma Beauty, Kim’s book Selfish, Kris’s cleaning product brand Safely, Kylie Cosmetics, Kim’s private equity firm SKKY Partners, and many more fully-owned enterprises as well as collaborations. There is nothing that they have not done in recent years. Though many of these ventures involved lawsuits due to copyright claims, discrimination accusations, and quality issues, their resources seemed inexhaustible. In a 2022 interview with Variety, Kim promotes hustle culture with her motivational formula for success: ‘Get your fucking ass up and work. […] You have to surround yourself with people that want to work.’ She conveniently forgets that the resources and privileges that sprung from her nepotism definitely helped her become who she is today – her best product ever.
Image courtesy of Kardashian Jenner Productions.
In 2013, George Packer wrote in a New York Times op-ed: ‘The person evolves into a persona, then a brand, then an empire, with the business imperative of grow or die — a process of expansion and commodification that transgresses boundaries by substituting celebrity for institutions. […] The inevitable next step is for Kim Kardashian to sit on the board of a tech start-up, host a global-poverty-awareness event and write a book on behavioural neuroscience.’ Plot twist: in addition to her other business, the mom of four (North, Saint, Chicago, and Psalm) is studying to become a lawyer, leaning into her philanthropic era, and demonstrating to the world that she really is one of the good ones. Even her biggest mischiefs may be forgiven when she confesses in Kris Jenner’s 2009-founded California Community Church, or when she becomes another meme to reference later. Although the Kardashians love their life among the ‘filthy rich,’ they have recognised one thing over the years: ‘People want relatability and reality,’ noted Ash Silver in her YouTube special about the Kardashians. She suspects that ‘the Kardashians are incapable of doing this because they are so out of touch with reality.’
Indeed, the tip of the iceberg, when the whole world thought Kim finally lost it, was the moment when she crowned herself as a cultural icon by squeezing her hourglass-shaped figure into a historically relevant fashion piece – the dress Marilyn Monroe wore to sing Happy Birthday, Mr. President to John F. Kennedy, and which had been safely stored away until that moment. But there is nothing Kim cannot achieve; her power can penetrate even the walls of the White House and gain parole for convicted criminals. No, she is not as superficial as you might believe once you have read her selfie book, Selfish. Yes, she somehow manages to appear to be one of the people. But her ever-evolving characters and personas leave her detached from everything. Or, to put it in Kourtney’s words, when she criticised Kim for being too dramatic over a lost diamond earring, ‘There’s people that are dying.’ And yet, it seems that most of all, people are dying to keep up with the Kardashians – whether they love them or love to hate them.