Darcey Sergison looks at the importance of celebrities supporting and promoting the brands they wear after Kylie Jenner receives backlash.
Kylie Jenner has one of the highest followings on Instagram, with over 190 million followers. Therefore, she has an immense influence on those who follow her for her fashion sense.
Increasingly brands look for ambassadors or relationships with celebrities, such as Kylie Jenner, to gain attention on the global stage. However, since Instagram enforced paid posts to be signified with hashtags, it is no longer a mystery to followers what is gifted and what is chosen.
However, on her birthday this year, Kylie Jenner decided to wear one of her much-loved designer friend, Oliver Rousteing from Balmain’s, beautiful bejewelled dress. But not everyone was so pleased about how she tagged the designer in her post.
American fashion designer Michael Costello commented on Kylie’s stunning post calling her out on her support of smaller brands. As Kylie has previously worn one of his designs and was not tagged, Michael showed concern that despite all the hours put into custom designs, the efforts are not always rewarded.
Michael commented: “But it’s sad that designers work so so so so hard on these opportunities to dress these gorgeous popular women and they only tag the major high end designers like Oliver but forget about the other ones. (this has nothing to do with my brand) but it definitely has a lot to do with the la designers why not tag at least one? Not all the time but maybe once in a while.”
However, recently Kylie Jenner has been supporting a London black-owned business. The brand Farai London is an exclusive women’s resort wear brand creating colourful dresses and bikinis.
Wearing the Gaia multi-colour dress has led to the brand selling out completely. The next pre-order shipment is scheduled for September, which shows the significance of Kylie Jenner wearing a new brand and what it can do for their business.
Most businesses can only dream of having a celebrity such as Kylie Jenner or a member of the Kardashian family wearing one of their pieces. However, it is crucial that these brands are supported by tagging them so that the world can search for the brand and support them too.
