Or has she forgiven? Or, was it both?

Kim Kardashian in the latest Balenciaga campaign. Photo: Balenciaga

Things can indeed be left in the past. Kim Kardashian has accepted the role of Balenciaga’s brand ambassador (again?), according to a statement shared by the company recently. This, even after Ms Kardashian had said that she’d be “reevaluating” her relationship with the brand, following the advertising flub of 2022 that had angry Netizens call for the cancelling of the brand. One of those images in two different photoshoots was of a kid carrying a teddy bear cosplaying as an S&M huggable. Ms Kardashian took a while to react, and when she did, she said she was “shaken” by the photographs, and that to her, as a mother, “the safety of children must be held with the highest regard and any attempts to normalize child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society—period.” She did also state that her partnership with Balenciaga would, as a consequence, be dependent on the brand’s “willingness to accept accountability for something that should have never happened to begin with—& the actions I am expecting to see it take to protect children.”

Designer Demna Gvasalia did eventually apologise. On Instagram, he wrote (the post no longer exists): “I want to personally apologize for the wrong artistic choice of concept for the gifting campaign with the kids and I take my responsibility. It was inappropriate to have kids promote objects that had nothing to do with them.” He also revealed that he would like to work with “child protection organizations” (we do not know what came out of that). Balenciaga’s CEO Cédric Charbit, too, apologised on IG (his post is also removed), describing the communication faux pas “our mistakes” and offering a checklist of actionable items that would be implemented in the company. It is not clear if these were, to Ms Kardashian, the “accountability” and “the actions” she was expecting to hear and see. Or, if, in her contract with Balenciaga, terms were spelled out so that she would not be caught in a difficult situation when Balenciaga puts out provocative campaigns that required her to take sides.

It is not clear… if, in her contract with Balenciaga, terms were spelled out so that she would not be caught in a difficult situation when Balenciaga puts out provocative campaigns that required her to take sides

But has Kim Kardashian not been in an ambassadorial role at Balenciaga before? She was known or referred to as the brand’s “spokesmodel” or “vocal supporter”—both can’t be different from being an “ambassador”. Her relationship with Balenciaga goes back at least ten years, when she was dating Kanye West who would become het husband and then ex. In the early days of their courtship that began in 2012, they were seen shopping in Balenciaga stores (after an early dalliance with Riccardo Tisci’s Givenchy), then they started appearing in the font row of the brand’s PFW shows. During her marriage to Mr West, it was her husband who transformed her. W quoted her saying in 2018: “I always thought I had really good style—until I met my husband and he told me that I had the worst style. He was really nice about it and cleaned out my whole closet.” The empty space was presumably filled with Balenciagas. The man was nice.

Then there was that Met Gala appearance in 2021, when she came looking totally upholstered in what was described as “shadow” dress, a cover-up completely antithetical to the look on the cover of the winter 2014 issue of Paper magazine, which was said to have broken the Internet. In an interview with Vogue last year, she said she was initially adamant not to have a face obscured. “I fought against it,” she said. “I was like, I don’t know how I could wear the mask. Why would I want to cover my face?” And then she relented: The face that she was willing to eat poop for to stay young was completely obscured. Apparently Mr Gvasalia convinced her. “But Demna and the team were like,” she continued. “This is a costume gala. This is not a Vanity Fair party where everyone looks beautiful. There’s a theme and you have to wear the mask. That is the look.” And it was one she would continue to adopt for at least another year. It seems that Ms Kardashian is not averse to letting men tell her exactly what to wear. And she continues to allow it.

In an ad for Balenciaga in 2022. Photo: Balenciaga

In the latest series of Balenciaga ads (top photo), known as Closet Campaign, Ms Kardashian, who looked like she could pass off as a Bollywood star, was photographed by the Dutch-American duo Inez and Vinoodh. Reportedly, it was set in her closet, but we do not know if this was the one Kanye West had cleared out. She was outfitted in a black bustier number (not established is who picked that out for her), which brings to mind what she wore on that Paper cover. In fact, this has been her look for a while and corresponded to the Balenciaga campaign that she appeared in last year. In her left hand is the brand’s Le City Bag, which debuted in 2000, during Nicholas Ghesquière’s tenure at the maison. It didn’t look heavy or weighted. Behind her, the shelves were filled with Balenciaga bags of many styles and colours. There were, according to People, 129 of them. It is unclear if she owns all of them or if Balenciaga placed them there as props.

For an American reality star who became famous because of leaked sex tapes and then the marriage to a famous husband, which ended in divorce, her association with one of Europe’s most esteemed couture houses is one way to elevate her status in the fashion sphere, even if it is not quite on the same level as Audrey Hepburn and Givenchy. Ms Kardashian was not a true fashion type before she met Kanye West, and as it appears, is still dependant on others’ vision to shape her. We do not know if she is indeed Demna Gvasalia’s muse, but he did cast her in his 2022 couture show. So was Nicole Kidman and Dua Lipa. For the advertising campaigns, even Michelle Yeoh had a shot at it. But it is Kim Kardashian who has achieved longevity with the brand. As Demna Gvasalia said in that Vogue cover story on his American star, “I think for many, many years, there hasn’t been anyone who has redefined the standards of beauty, of feminine beauty, as much as Kim has. She did something that is very similar to what Marilyn Monroe did back in the day. She redefined our understanding of what beauty is.” If he said so.