It’s hardly surprising that Kylie Jenner has established herself as a prominent figure in the business world. In 2019, at the tender age of 21, she achieved the remarkable feat of becoming the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. In addition to her financial success, she’s also well versed in the world of fashion, constantly collaborating with the latest creative directors at major luxury brands.
The reality TV star turned beauty mogul is now expanding her portfolio to include the roles of creative director and clothing brand owner. On Instagram, Jenner posted a photo of herself sitting on a carpeted floor wearing a black leather jacket, captioned “meet khy” and tagged a new account, @khy. The first image on this tagged account shows Kylie Jenner modelling the jacket from behind, with the first post teasing “coming soon”. Sign up at khy.com.”
The link provided leads to a sign-up page for “early access” to upcoming collections, though specific release details have yet to be revealed. Clearly, Kris Jenner has a knack for nurturing business-savvy individuals within her family, from her sister Kim Kardashian to Khloé and Kendall, who have all found success with ventures such as SKIMS, Good American and 818 Tequila.
The brand, which takes its name from one of Kylie’s nicknames, will host various other “guest designers and concepts throughout the year”, according to the Wall Street Journal. The first collection, Kylie revealed in an Insta post, will be a collaboration between Khy and Berlin-based fashion label Namilia. The pieces will be available exclusively on khy.com. In addition, the label aims to produce “investment pieces” at “affordable prices”, and nothing in Khy’s inaugural release will cost more than $200 USD.
In 2015, when she launched her first Lipkits, she launched with a quantity of just 5,000 of each colour – and they all sold out in under a minute, thanks to the purchasing power of her nearly 400 million followers. This, of course, created a hype as everyone suddenly had FOMO and the lip kits became one of the most sought after products. It remains to be seen whether the same principle will be applied to the launch of Khy.
But even though Jenner and her team have established themselves as a successful beauty brand over the past few years (and all of her other business ventures have been mediocre to hugely successful), the question remains as to why Kylie Jenner would want to get into fashion now.
After all, this was previously the preserve of her sister Kim, who (thanks in part to her ex-husband Kanye West) has managed to gain a fair foothold in the fashion business. Think Skims, Balenciaga, Dolce & Gabbana and many more.
Well: Kylie Jenner was certainly one of the first to successfully launch a beauty brand, but she is far from the only one. Think Selena Gomez, Hailey Bieber, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga. The list of celebrities with beauty brands is long and prominent. So the market is saturated and Kylie Jenner is no longer top dog. So it makes sense that she would want to expand her multimillion-dollar empire. Fashion is an obvious choice, as she has long been praised by the masses for her campaigns with various brands. Most recently with Acne Studios.
We will see if KHY become the Lipkits of 2023. We’ll keep you posted.
