As the name alone suggests, the first KKW Body fragrance was all about, well, Kim Kardashian West's body. From that infamous perfume bottle to the campaign images of Kardashian West in the nude, it was very clear who and what she was trying to celebrate.
But for her two new scents — KKW II, a beach-y floral, and KKW III, a unisex woody floral, both launching this Friday — Kardashian West flipped the script. Rather than launching yet another campaign with her own body as the focus, she turned the spotlight onto women whose bodies are unlike her own, posting close-up images on Twitter of nude women with their belly rolls, cellulite, and stretch marks on full display.
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The images themselves have already created an internet firestorm of sorts, with many noting just how remarkable it is that Kardashian West is finally using her immense platform to celebrate these natural physical features in a distinctly respectful and beautiful manner. Ahead of the fragrance launch, Refinery29 caught up with Kardashian West to talk about the campaign, and what showing these women in this way has meant to her.
Why did you decide that now was the right time for you to create a campaign with images like this?
"I was talking to some friends of mine and I had seen a couple other people recreate the [original KKW Body] campaign and I just thought, You know what? It's not always about my body. The bottle obviously is my body shape, but I always celebrate and love confident women no matter what shape or size they are."
"I was talking to some friends of mine and I had seen a couple other people recreate the [original KKW Body] campaign and I just thought, You know what? It's not always about my body. The bottle obviously is my body shape, but I always celebrate and love confident women no matter what shape or size they are."
What’s the real message you wanted to send?
"Just to be confident within your own skin — I think I've always put forth that message. In the magazines I would look at, everyone was super tall and skinny and I didn't feel like I had something that represented my curvier body shape growing up. And so I just wanted to show a campaign that supports women of all different shapes to feel confident within themselves."
"Just to be confident within your own skin — I think I've always put forth that message. In the magazines I would look at, everyone was super tall and skinny and I didn't feel like I had something that represented my curvier body shape growing up. And so I just wanted to show a campaign that supports women of all different shapes to feel confident within themselves."
How did you choose the models, and are there any stories that stood out to you from your time with them?
"I just wanted people who felt comfortable doing this shoot because it is a nude shoot. So I picked a bunch of girls that I felt exuded that and were so excited to do it. And no, they're not all professional models. It was just a good mix of people and friends of the photographer [Eli Russell Linnetz] and people who were confident and wanted to be in this campaign."
"I just wanted people who felt comfortable doing this shoot because it is a nude shoot. So I picked a bunch of girls that I felt exuded that and were so excited to do it. And no, they're not all professional models. It was just a good mix of people and friends of the photographer [Eli Russell Linnetz] and people who were confident and wanted to be in this campaign."
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When you do get shot by a paparazzi and you do have cellulite, which you know has definitely happened to me before, it'll be on the cover of magazines like, 'Worst Body Of The Week.'
Kim Kardashian West
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Did you feel like it was important to photograph cellulite and stretch marks in a way that’s celebratory — as opposed to the way the paparazzi portray those same features?
"Yeah, and when you do get shot by a paparazzi and you do have cellulite, which you know has definitely happened to me before, it'll be on the cover of magazines like, 'Worst Body Of The Week' and, 'Look how awful she looks.' It's always so hard on your soul when you see things like that and I see that happen to so many other women and I never thought that was fair. And so to show it in an artistic way just felt beautiful and right and I really wanted to show people that you can be beautiful no matter if you have stretch marks or cellulite."
"Yeah, and when you do get shot by a paparazzi and you do have cellulite, which you know has definitely happened to me before, it'll be on the cover of magazines like, 'Worst Body Of The Week' and, 'Look how awful she looks.' It's always so hard on your soul when you see things like that and I see that happen to so many other women and I never thought that was fair. And so to show it in an artistic way just felt beautiful and right and I really wanted to show people that you can be beautiful no matter if you have stretch marks or cellulite."
How do these two new scents differ from the first KKW Body?
"I saw that there was a demand from my male fanbase to have a unisex fragrance. Even my makeup artist Mario [Dedivanovic], he'll wear one of my fragrances and there are so many guys who want to wear this. So we decided that we were gonna make the darker grey bottle, Body III, the unisex fragrance; it's more woodsy. And then the Body II, which is the cream body, is more floral-y."
"I saw that there was a demand from my male fanbase to have a unisex fragrance. Even my makeup artist Mario [Dedivanovic], he'll wear one of my fragrances and there are so many guys who want to wear this. So we decided that we were gonna make the darker grey bottle, Body III, the unisex fragrance; it's more woodsy. And then the Body II, which is the cream body, is more floral-y."
Has this campaign impacted your own view of your body?
"I've been working out a lot and being more confident, so it really hasn't changed the way that I view my own body. I've always been really comfortable in my own skin and I think, to me, it was refreshing to see other people who were as well. To see the images, it really looks like art and these beautiful statues as these beautiful bodies."
"I've been working out a lot and being more confident, so it really hasn't changed the way that I view my own body. I've always been really comfortable in my own skin and I think, to me, it was refreshing to see other people who were as well. To see the images, it really looks like art and these beautiful statues as these beautiful bodies."