Kim Kardashian Starts Quietly Wearing Balenciaga Again Following Ad Campaign Controversy

The Kardashians star’s recent furry pink ensemble is the latest look she’s worn by the designer despite online criticism

Kim Kardashian/Instagram
Kim Kardashian. Photo: Kim Kardashian/Instagram

After taking a short break from rocking Balenciago threads after a heated controversy last year involving the brand, it appears Kim Kardashian is back to regularly wearing the fashion house's looks.

Though the Kardashians star released a lengthy statement condemning the brand after its controversial holiday campaign that featured kids holding teddy bears dressed in bondage, she's been spotted in several ensembles from the fashion house in the last month.

The star, 42, recently took her children North and Chicago on a trip to Tokyo, and while there, the star sported a bright pink fluffy faux-fur coat with a matching Balenciaga purse, Hello Kitty manicure, gray sweatpants, Nike shoes and Balenciaga sunglasses.

The look comes just a few weeks after Kardashian received online criticism for wearing a head-to-toe Balencianga body-hugging jumpsuit on an outing with her son Saint in Beverly Hills, California.

"Kim is about her money; plain and simple and if it don't make dollars to her, it don't make sense," an online commenter wrote at the time. "She doesn't give a damn about ethics, morals or none of that."

Kardashian has talked candidly about navigating the Balenciaga backlash, including in a December interview on the Angie Martinez IRL podcast.

"With the Balenciaga thing… everyone was like, 'Why aren't you speaking out? Why aren't you speaking out?' And I'm like, 'Wait. I'm not in this campaign,'" Kardashian told Martinez. "'I don't know what's happening. Let me take a minute to like research this.'"

"And then as soon as I saw what everyone was seeing on the internet and the reality of the situation, I completely spoke out and gave my thoughts," she added.

Kardashian posted a lengthy statement more than a week after the campaign was released, denouncing it on social media. She said at the time that she would reevaluate her relationship with the brand. However, she noted that still wasn't enough for some people, and she continued to face hate online.

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"But because I didn't say, 'F--- you, Balenciaga. That's it,' people got mad at that," she explained on the podcast. "So they're mad if I don't speak out. They're mad if I do speak out, and if I don't cancel."

The reality star said it was tough having to deal with that situation knowing that "no matter what you can't win."

Kim Kardashian attends the 2022 LACMA ART+FILM GALA Presented By Gucci at Los Angeles County Museum of Art on November 05, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Presley Ann/Getty Images for LACMA) ; The exterior of a Balenciaga store photographed on March 22, 2022 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Jeremy Moeller/Getty Images)
Kim Kardashian and Balenciaga. Presley Ann/Getty; Jeremy Moeller/Getty

"You don't want to be a part of the narrative, but you're brought in," Kardashian explained. "But then I have to take responsibility and say, 'Okay, people look at me as the face of this, so let me speak out.' I just always want to do the right thing."

Balenciaga released the campaign in question on Nov. 16, and social media users were quick to call it out, accusing the brand of sexualizing children in the ad. Within a week of the campaign's release, its photographer Gabriele Galimberti released a statement saying, he "was not entitled in whatsoever manner to neither chose [sic] the products, nor the models, nor the combination of the same."

RELATED VIDEO: A Timeline of Balenciaga's Ad Campaign Scandal

Balenciaga then issued a statement on Nov. 24, saying, "We sincerely apologize for any offense our holiday campaign may have caused. Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign. We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms."

The luxury fashion house added to this in a lengthy follow-up statement posted four days later, saying that the brand "takes responsibility" for its "series of grievous errors" regarding the campaign, and said it would implement "new controls" to prevent it from happening again. The brand also said it was reaching out to "organizations who specialize in child protection and aim at ending child abuse and exploitation."

In a February interview, his first since the controversy, creative director Demna further opened up about the future of the brand.

Demna told Vogue that he knows he's considered provocative with his work, but the backlash for the holiday campaign shed a different light on the classification — one that upset him, because he said he would never want to convey a message of child abuse. He added that he was filled with "regret" over what happened.

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