What’s Wrong with Kim Kardashian West’s Kimono Shapewear Line? Cultural Appropriation and Cultural Theft (The whole story)

(Updates from July 3, 2019 added at the bottom)

Kim Kardashian West’s shapewear line, Kimono Intimates, Inc., does have a good idea. I personally do not wear any kind of shapewear because they look uncomfortable and hot, and I’m sure they will irritate my sensitive skin. I also believe that a shapewear can cause the body to become dependent on such external support over time. More than anything, as a Japanese girl, I would never wear ババ下着 (baba shitagi), meaning “granny’s underwear,” which is what skin-toned shapewear is called informally in Japan.

However, I understand that some people like to wear shapewear. I also understand that doctors recommend those who had a liposuction procedure to wear compression garments after the operation. So, the launch of Kardashian West’s shapewear line could have been a great news for many of them.

Naming behind Kardashian West’s shapewear line, Kimono

Just as many others, I too wish Kardashian West had been more creative with the naming of her line. She could have added just one more character, such as Kimmono, to the word kimono so that it could be differentiated from Japanese kimono. Even a space in between, such as Kim Ono or a hyphen, Kim-ono could have made it a lot of difference. However, she decided to call it Kimono.

It’s very hard to believe that Kardashian West, or any other individuals who are involved in her shapewear line didn’t expect the backlash. So, why did Kardashian West and her PR personnel go ahead with their plan?

1) Did she know how much backlash she would get for the misuse of the word “kimono,” and tried to use this opportunity as part of the marketing strategy?

For a famous person like Kardashian West, this scheme was not necessary. It’s hard to believe that she planned the current backlash to get noticed. On top of that, this issue has negatively affected her reputation by many people who didn’t even know much about her including the real kimono lovers in Japan.

2) Maybe she had no idea what kimono really was, and how traditionally important it was to Japanese people.

She says she “understands and has deep respect for the significance of the kimono in Japanese culture.” But obviously, she does not. Saying the right thing without even believing it seems just so easy for her. What she did with the name kimono only showed how disrespectful she was towards Japanese culture and the significance of kimono if she really understood the kimono culture.

3) Perhaps she was not even aware of the amount of the past and recent cultural appropriation issues that have been talked about.

This might be also hard to believe, but for a busy person who has her own world, it’s possible that she could have been blind to what was going on in the outside world until informed by someone.

4) Was it that she was somewhat aware of cultural appropriation issues, but she didn’t think her shapewear line was appropriation?

Or, maybe she didn’t care about anything that she wouldn’t directly profit from?

Are we Asians invisible or what?

Kardashian West mentioned on her Instagram post that “[…] there have also been so many times I couldn’t find a shapeware [sic] color that blended with my skin tone so we needed a solution for all of this.”  And New York Times article interpreted this as “[…] the line itself, which was conceived for many different body types and skin tones and is clearly meant to carve out a space in a market somewhere between Spanx and Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty lingerie line.”

Savage x Fenty lingerie line includes Asian models, but Kardashian West’s shapewear line doesn’t. So Kardashian West’s line cannot be compared to Rihanna’s S x F. Just throwing a few black models in the picture doesn’t make it diverse anymore in 2019. Is Kardarshian West planning to add variety of people of color later including Asian models? Well, it should have been done initially, especially if she is using the word kimono for her business.

Were there any Asian persons somewhere behind in the group shot? It doesn’t seem like it. Asian faces should have been included to minimize the backlash. Why did she exclude Asian women from her target market? (Perhaps, we are so fit that we don’t even need any kind of shapewear? Is that what it is? Smart.) Kardashian West’s shapewear line obviously does not support Asian women contrary to its naming.

Doing the right thing

Though I’m interested in fashion, I don’t follow Hollywood because I’m very much into my neighborhood, surroundings, my community, and spirituality. I never watch reality TV shows of any sort, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a moving image of Kardashian West because I’m not interested. For these reasons, I didn’t have any sort of opinions about Kim Kardashian West.

I believe she is a great entrepreneur. Also, it’s great that she is studying to become a lawyer just like her father. As an entrepreneur and a lawyer, more success may be on her way. However, she must understand that just because the law allows you to do some things, doesn’t mean that you can or should do it.

Because of her fame and number of followers on social media, whatever she does, she really must be careful about the influence she has on other people. Because of this, celebrities like her carry a heavier burden, face more challenges, and hold more responsibilities than most of us. Therefore, she must act right.

Trademark of her business name, Kimono

Naming a business Kimono is one thing. Applying that name for trademark is another thing. According to the Insider, two companies have trademarked the word Kimono previously–a software company and a writing utensil sheath company. Those never became an issue.

Even if those companies were large organizations or a celebrity’s business that would have a huge mass influence, they wouldn’t have caused any backlash by Japanese people in Japan. That’s because their products were not garments, and they had nothing to do with Japanese kimono. Same goes to Kimono Condoms and Kimono Lash, which were name dropped in the New York Times article.

Kardarshian West filed trademarks for her company name, Kimono Intimates, Inc. and variations of the name including Kimono Body and Kimono World, and the word kimono with a unique font. Kardashian West’s trademarking of Kimono is not favorable to many because her products are garments. Though her shapewear line has nothing to do with Japanese kimono, those are all garments, and worse yet, they are underwear. She is tarnishing sublime Japanese kimono tradition of covering up the exquisite skin of women.

Being ignorant about the issue itself

Three days after the launch of the shapewear line, Kardashian West announced that she was not planning to change the name. She also mentioned that “she is not going to produce actual kimono-style clothing.” She’s not getting it. Japanese people are disgusted and protesting her line because she is calling underwear kimono.

Some of those who speak up to defend Kardashian West do not even understand what kind of wrong she is doing. There was an article that showed up at the top of Google search titled “Tia Carrere Defends Kim Kardashian Amid Kimono Controversy (Exclusive).” It read that an actress Tia Carrere “defended” Kardashian West saying that “[…] I wear kimonos, We’re a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic world. So I don’t understand.” However, Carrere’s statement was just not relevant to Kardashian West’s kimono issues.

Articles like this one may confuse people who is trying to understand the issue. Japanese people in Japan are not mad at Kardashian West or anyone for wearing ‘real’ kimonos.

It’s not about cultural appropriation. It’s about cultural theft.

In fact, Japanese in Japan are generally happy to see foreigners wearing something Japanese or using something Japanese. Japanese people love to find out that a foreigner knows a lot about Japanese culture and that their culture is appreciated. Moreover, if a foreigner is not wearing kimono the right way, they don’t usually take it as cultural appropriation.

For example, Japanese in Japan weren’t even mad at Katy Perry’s Japanese Geisha-influenced costumes. It was Asian Americans who were offended by Perry’s cultural appropriation for legitimate reasons which non-Americans hardly understood. Japanese in Japan either thought the costume was interesting, unique, or laughable. It wasn’t “offensive” to them.

This time, Japanese in Japan are furious about Kardashian West’s line of shapewear because shapewear does not describe kimono. People are not only outraged but are also extremely disappointed with Kardashian West’s ignorance and the audacity behind her trademark decisions.

With her Instagram followers count (142 million) numbering more than the whole population of Japan (126 million), Japanese people are seriously fearful that Kardashian West’s shapewear image could one day take over the real definition of kimono. This can cause the future distrust in American businesspersons. This can also lead to not favoring any foreigners, especially someone who looks like Kardashian West, wearing Japanese kimono anymore. Kardashian West is not only doing wrong to Japanese people, but to everyone.

Updates as of July 3

The date the Mayor of Kyoto sent the above letter to Kardashan West was Friday, June 28, 2019. The next business day on July 1, 2019, Kardashian West announced on social media that she decided to change the name of her shapewear line, without including a line of apology. She said, “My brands and products are built with inclusivity and diversity at their core,” even though she has no Asian models in her campaign. Moreover, she hasn’t replied to the Mayor of Kyoto as of July 3.

The Mayor waited one day for Kardashian West to reply to his formal letter. The next day on Tuesday, July 2, he wrote another open letter in response to Kardashian West’s social media announcement, addressing that he “greatly appreciate[s] [her] decision that [she] reconsider using the name of KIMONO […]” (See image below).

The mayor simultaneously released another letter addressing the public as follows.

Some Japanese media and Twitter users reported that, according to Kyoto natives, the last paragraph in the original letter addressed to Kardashian West written in Japanese meant, “Acknowledge your ignorance. Come here and learn what Kimono really is.”

Kardashian West has not apologized publicly nor replied to the Mayor of Kyoto as of July 3, 2019. In the meantime, Kardashian West posted four new unrelated photos on her Instagram page. Many Japanese people are extremely disappointed with her actions which they see as disrespectful, ignorant, and unprofessional.

It could have been handled peacefully. However, Japan’s Trade Minister is “sending Japanese patent executives to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on July 9 to properly exchange views on the matter.”

Conclusion

Kardashian West still has so much to do such as withdrawing the trademark application for Kimono as well as working on the shapewear line with a new name. But first, we only needed an apology just like Gucci and Burberry did after making similar mistakes.

It was such a rare phenomenon to see so many Japanese people get upset. Many Japanese people expressed their disappointments on Twitter and Instagram and said that they don’t even want to see or hear Kardashian West’s name again. I too never felt this disrespected ever before as a Japanese person. I’m not coming back here to update this post after this because I don’t even want to think about it again anymore.

The fact that Kardashian West did not take this issue seriously, and did not even attempt to correct it by apologizing, may negatively influence a large number of her followers who consider her as a role model. By leaving an issue like this hanging, she is contributing to racial discrimination and negative preconceptions about white people by people of color, with or without realizing it.

If you are not sure whether your new business idea will offend a certain culture or not, please consult a few people who know about it first. If it’s Japanese related, you can contact me at nana [at] nananyoshida.com. And don’t worry if you don’t know. We don’t know many things. That’s why we all need to do due diligence.