Kim Kardashian is the new face of Balenciaga: kind of cool or totally meh?

For the past six months or so, Kim Kardashian has been wearing Fendi and Balenciaga almost exclusively. The choice of wearing Fendi was a branding/synergy thing: last year, Kim agreed to a SKIMS and Fendi collaboration, one which sold out and did great things for both Fendi and SKIMS. The Balenciaga thing didn’t make as much sense, and I just assumed that Kim had a good friendship with Balenciaga chief designer Demna Gvasalia. Well, that was true, but there was something else happening: Kim is the new face of Balenciaga. She’s fronting a major ad campaign for the company.

Kim Kardashian has made her ties to Balenciaga (extra) official. Six months into adopting head-to-toe Demna designs as her uniform, the 41-year-old mogul is now the star of its latest campaign. The second installment of this season’s ongoing ad campaign also features returning stars Justin Bieber and Isabelle Huppert, as well as two newcomers, the models Marie-Agnès Diene and Tommy Blue. Stef Mitchell photographed each in the spaces where they live and work—at home in Calabasas and Paris for Kardashian and Huppert, respectively, and in L.A. at his favorite studio for Bieber. In a true show of Demna’s love for Kardashian, she’s the only face to earn a post on Balenciaga’s Instagram feed, which is at the moment otherwise entirely blank.

[From W Magazine]

Honestly, the campaign is pretty cool? I know Kim’s not everyone’s flavor and yes, she’s done and said a lot of problematic sh-t. But I still enjoy the fact that short, curvy Kim is being treated as a genuine model for a high-fashion line. Stef Mitchell did a great job with the photos too. Balenciaga cleared their IG except for one image of Kim as well.

As one friend just remarked to me, Kim’s lawyers are next level for ensuring that Fendi and Balenciaga allowed for there be non exclusivity clauses in her contracts with both of them. She’s Kim Kardashian and she WON’T be relegated to one fashion house. Queen

— Liz Kardash (@lizpkardash) February 1, 2022

Photos courtesy of Stef Mitchell for Balenciaga, Kim’s Instagram, Backgrid.