Kim Kardashian says she ‘would never do anything to appropriate any culture’

Reality TV star says she has ‘definitely learned over time’

(Getty Images for ULTA Beauty / K)

Kim Kardashian has said she would “never” appropriate another culture in a new interview.

Speaking to i-D magazine, the reality TV star was asked to address accusations of cultural appropriation that she faced when she first released her bodywear line, Skims, under the name Kimono.

In 2019, shortly after announcing the name, Kardashian received a flurry of criticism on social media for adopting a term which denotes a traditional Japanese garment.

One critic tweeted at the time: “Please be respectful with Japanese culture. The word Kimono shouldn’t be something that any one company can take advantage and making profit out of #culturalappropriation.”

Two months following the brand’s initial launch, the entrepreneur announced that the range had been renamed: “SKIMS Solutionwear.”

Now, Kardashian has responded to the backlash. When asked how she processed it all and chose to change the brand’s name at the time, she replied: “It was a really quick decision. I mean, I came up with the Kimono name because it was a play on my name, and because I was so inspired by Japanese culture.

“To me, it was just paying homage to it, but I quickly realised that it wasn’t being seen that way. I would never intentionally try to appropriate the culture in that way.

“It wasn’t my intention at all. So I just was like, ‘Okay, shut it down. It doesn’t matter that we have so much product already. We have to figure this out. We need to take our time and slow down for a second and figure it out and change the name.’”

Kardashian broached the subject again when she was asked how she has navigated criticism around blackfishing - the reality TV star has previously been accused of wearing makeup to dramatically darken the colour of her skin.

“I would never do anything to appropriate any culture,” she said. “But I have in the past got backlash from putting my hair in braids and I understand that.

“Honestly, a lot of the time it comes from my daughter asking us to do matching hair. And I’ve had these conversations with her that are like, ‘Hey, maybe this hairstyle would be better on you and not on me.’ But I also want her to feel that I can do a hairstyle with her and not make it that big of a deal either if that’s something that she’s really asking for, and really wants.

“But I’ve learned and grown over the years, and figured out good ways to communicate with all my kids about all this. I’ve definitely learned over time, and I’ve tried to pass that culture of learning onto my kids too, but then there’s also a history of braiding hair in Armenia, and people forget that I am Armenian as well.”

In 2018, Kardashian was heavily criticised for controversially describing her braided hairstyle at that time as “Bo Derek braids”.

Bo Derek was famously styled with cornrows in the 1979 film 10.