Look, I am not a deep, die-hard fan of the Kardashians. I enjoy keeping on top of their goss, I’ll watch an episode or two if it happens to be on a TV in my vicinity, but overall I don’t really care deeply for the family.
[jwplayer G09aGnNy]
However, I have to accept something – and so do you. Love them or hate them, that Kardashian squad made absolute waves through the last decade. Whether it’s style, social media,
1. Unicorn Hair
Now, I will not say Kylie Jenner made wigs a thing, because there’s a lot of contention around the fact that she was influenced by WoC, who have been repping wigs for decades. But I will say this about Kylie – the day she dyed her ends bright blue was the day we all started thinking pastel-hued unicorn hair was a vibe.
From there, Kylie wore wig after wig of fairy floss hair, without ever acknowledging they were wigs for a LONG time – so we all bleached the fuck out of our own hair and dyed it every colour under the sun. Fast-forward to now, and we’re all trying to get our distressed strands in check after years of this shit.
2. Lip Fillers
Oh, my god. Remember the entire year Kylie Jenner tried to make us believe her plumped lips were simply the result of creative lip lining? And we believed her? And she released Kylie Cosmetics Lip Kits and we bought them like they contained the fountain of youth?
Then it all came out that she had been getting her lips cosmetically enhanced, and we all jumped on THAT train instead. Wild stuff. Obviously all the Kardashians have, I assume, dabbled with lip fillers. But Kylie Jenner really kicked the train into high gear.
3. Bike Pants
I still remember when Kim Kardashian started trying to make bike shorts as fashion happen, and I was like – absolutely fucking not, Kimmy. But then the trend grew, and grew, and grew. Now, everyone is repping bike shorts. I’m not saying Kim came up with the idea herself, per se – the whole thing was part of the 90s aesthetic that rose from the ashes. But did she make it mainstream? Absolutely she did.
4. Contouring
Before the Kardashians (and their makeup artists, especially Mario) started drawing brown lines on their faces and painting shimmery champagne tones on other areas, we had NFI that you could literally change your face structure with makeup outside of, like, the theatre.
Contouring again wasn’t necessarily a new concept – makeup artists were all over it, for example. But we didn’t see mainstream contour kits and sticks until Kim Kardashian and co started doing how-to videos on the technique.
I still can’t contour for shit, by the way.
5. Beige
Ever noticed how much beige-on-beige the Kardashians love to wear? A LOT. I feel Kanye West had a lot to do with this – remember his Yeezy season 1 collection? It was a beige ocean. We know Kanye influences Kim’s fashion, but you’d be kidding yourself if you didn’t think he also had some sway with the rest of the Kardashian clan’s threads.
6. Curves
Having a curvy body shape isn’t a trend. But what’s “fashionable” and therefore embraced socially is, and prior to the Kardashians we were all obsessed with being tall, leggy and a size 0, like the supermodels of the early 00s, Paris Hilton and the Rachel Zoe set.
But in the 2010s, having an ass and boobs had a revival. Suddenly it wasn’t about being tall and skinny, and if you weren’t, hiding your curves under baggy clothing. As the Kardashians embraced their individual shapes with figure-hugging bodycon, so did we.
I would stop short of saying they kicked off the body positivity movement, because their vibe was less about realness and more about a new body type that was relatively unattainable to anyone who either didn’t have it naturally, or couldn’t attain it with plastic surgery. But it was still refreshing for anyone who struggled to accept their bumps during the era of the-skinnier-the-better.
7. Cultural Appropriation
Ooooooft. Surely no one has forgotten how often the Kardashians have dabbled hardcore in other cultures, repping cornrows, chola style, this….
The most recent? Kim Kardashian trademarking “Kimono” for her shapewear line, which she has since changed to “Skims”. This is not a good trend, but it undoubtedly was on the rise in the 2010s, thanks to the Kardashians. As they jumped on cultural-appropriation-trend bandwagons, so did we. If we didn’t we were undoubtedly still seeing them everywhere and shaking our heads.
8. Instagram Brands
These days, every Instagram influencer from 2k followers to 2 milli is selling Instagram-based brands, from teeth whitening (see above) to skinny tea, to tanning products. What started as a bit of a LOL for us plebs when we saw the Kardashians using blue-lit teeth products and other weird shit has turned into bazillion dollar lucrative businesses for many, from Aussie-based HiSmile to brands that went from Insta to mainstream, like Bali Body and Frank Body. These days you can make serious bank being a business that exclusively markets itself on social media.
