FASHION DIARY: YOU CAN’T KEEP UP WITH (OR KEEP DOWN) THE KARDASHIANS
Los Angeles Times (blog)
January 29, 2010 | 9:29 am
Kardashian bebe Gossip, first impressions, trends in the making,
celebrities and style setters.
Last week, reality TV royal Khloe Kardashian shook hands with President
Obama at the White House.
The "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" star had been invited by her
husband, basketball player Lamar Odom, along with other team wives,
to the ceremony honoring the L.A. Lakers’ NBA championship. And though
the collision-of-cultures handshake wasn’t quite so jarring as when
President Nixon greeted Elvis Presley at the White House in 1970,
it was close.
The White House is just the latest corner of the world that the
ubiquitous Kardashians have conquered. And next month, they are
hoping to take over your closet when they debut a runway collection
for trendy clothing brand Bebe at New York Fashion Week.
The Bebe-Kardashians line, which was designed by the brand’s in-house
team with input from Kim, Khloe and Kourtney, will be in Bebe stores
shortly after the Feb. 16 runway show, bucking the traditional
six-month lag time from runway to rack. The runway show is expected
to be webcast live at Bebe.com and may be incorporated into the plot
of the Kardashians’ reality program.
The line, $59 to $129, is heavy on dresses, but also includes some
day wear, such as a leather pencil skirt and a pink silk romper. The
designing gig is for 12 months, with five deliveries expected
throughout the year.
Bebe was approached by the Kardashians’ agent about a clothing deal
last year because the sisters were fans of the brand, according to
Sophie Rietdyk, vice president of global licensing for Brisbane,
Calif.-based Bebe.
"They are just the girls next door," says Rietdyk, who put together
the deal.
The Kardashians are part of a new wave of celebrities signing on to
advise or design for established brands. Lindsay Lohan is the artistic
advisor for Emanuel Ungaro, and Sarah Jessica Parker is president and
chief creative officer for Halston Heritage. British TV personality
Alexa Chung is designing a collection for Madewell, and Kate Moss a
line of handbags for French accessories brand Longchamp. And Steve
Madden is partnering with Diana Ross on some footwear.
"Even though I don’t have a lot of faith in the integrity of
celebrities as designers or artistic advisors, in this economy, when
everyone is playing it safe in terms of what they have the nerve to
buy and what they have the nerve to produce, retailers are looking
for any way to differentiate," says David Wolfe, creative director
of the New York trend forecasting firm Doneger Group.
Although Bebe has done one-off collections with the Pussycat Dolls,
Nicole Richie and Heidi Klum, this is the first time the brand
has partnered with a celebrity for an extended length of time. The
Kardashian runway debut promises to be a media maelstrom. But the
girls will be making plenty of headlines before then, which is what
Bebe is counting on.
Kim Kardashian, girlfriend of New Orleans Saints running back Reggie
Bush, will hit the Super Bowl in Miami next week. During the big game,
she is likely to be seen on screen in her latest Carl’s Jr.
commercial, in which she performs the near-impossible feat of sexing
up a cranberry apple walnut salad by noshing on one in a bubble bath.
She’s also uncapping a fragrance bearing her name at Sephora stores,
with personal appearances planned around the country. That’s between
shilling for products on the red carpet (Couture Lollipops being the
latest), working as a contributing beauty editor for OK Magazine,
and helping her sisters mind their clothing boutique Dash in Calabasas.
Kourtney, who just had a baby named Mason, is accusing OK Magazine of
digitally slimming her body for the Feb. 1 cover to make it look like
she already lost the baby weight, while at the same time promoting
something called a Belly Bandit.
And Khloe is partying at Sundance, dropping hints that she would like
to be a mommy and fending off rumors that her TV wedding to Odom was
a publicity stunt.
It’s a wonder the Kardashian sisters have time to eat, but they do
(QuickTrim diet supplements, mainly). Oh yeah, they are also rolling
out a line of candles with the Salt Lake City-based firm For Every
Body. The scents are inspired by baked goods. And they have an
Armenian-inspired jewelry line in the works with Virgins, Saints
and Angels.
With their enormous popularity (their E! network show reached a network
record 4.2 million viewers in December), it’s no surprise that they
are getting involved in fashion design. But what style exactly are
the Kardashians selling?
"They project sex and Bebe’s image is a sexy come-on kind of fashion,"
says Wolfe, the trend analyst. "They are not anorexic by a long shot."
Fashion designer Stacey Bendet, who counts the Kardashians as friends
and fans of the clingy mini-dresses and tops in her Alice & Olivia
clothing line, puts it a different way: "Whenever I see them together,
it’s like watching my sister and me when we were growing up."
"They are flirty and fun and sexy, and they dress in a way that
flatters their bodies," Bendet adds. "They are real women with curves.
. . . When you see something on a 100-pound, 5’10" model, it doesn’t
translate."
Except that the Kardashians have the model thing covered too. Kendall
Jenner, their 14-year-old half-sister, a regular on the family reality
show, recently signed with an agency and stars in the new Forever 21
ad campaign.
Keeping up with Kendall sounds like the perfect spinoff.