Outrage erupts as Kim Kardashian is called out for allegedly robbing Italians in a new ad campaign

Fashion mogul Kim Kardashian recently unveiled her SKIMS collaboration with Dolce & Gabbana, which is set to premiere on November 19. However, all attention is focused on the campaign accompanying the new capsule collection.

The Dolce & Gabbana x SKIMS campaign, shot by renowned photographer Nadia Lee Cohen, captures the charm of Sixties Italy and appears to pay homage to iconic Italian actress Sophia Loren. Featuring Kim and her sister Kourtney Kardashian, the visuals are designed to exude vintage charm while fusing fashion with the SKIMS aesthetic.

Kim was excited and promoted – we read in several posts on her Instagram, a space normally reserved for brands that pay tens of millions simply to be featured. Her 359 million followers enthusiastically welcomed the project and congratulated her on such a very important transaction.

However, not everyone likes the return to the past in promoting.

Critics at the moment are accusing the Kardashian sisters, who’re of Armenian descent, of once more crossing cultural boundaries. The campaign and two reality stars are accused on social media of appropriating a southern European identity.

When the style bomb is on a regular basis sent promotion, the comments showed how impressed lots of their followers were.

“The way they act culturally is really crazy,” one person said.

Another wrote: “Then no (sic) cosplaying Italians. I mean what race won’t be cosplaying at this point.”

Someone else said of the sisters’ campaign: “It’s always cosplay.”

Another person added: “I hope Italian grandma and grandpa are AI because why are you bothering these people dressed in underwear lol.”

One person wrote on Twitter: “More cultural appropriation from this white Armenian.”

One follower took issue with them comparing themselves to Loren’s fashion style, writing: “They take icons and put their names on them. When you type “Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, etc.” into Google, their names will appear. Keeping them associated with greatness. Sucks lack of originality, wash, rinse and repeat.”

There could also be some truth in associating the Kardashians with a few of the biggest stars in history by dressing like them and in some cases wearing dresses and jewellery that after belonged to deceased stars.

In 2022, Kim wore the identical dress that Marilyn Monroe wore to sing “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to then-President John F. Kennedy on his forty fifth birthday sixty years earlier. The dress was transparent, with 2,500 crystals embedded in the material.

Historians and owners who worked to preserve the historicity of the dress say she destroyed it. They claimed she returned the dress with the material stretched and located new holes appeared in the clothing. The owners also said that a few of the rhinestones were either barely attached or had fallen off completely.

This is not the only dress the blonde actress has worn in the past few years. She also wore a green sequined Norman Norell gown by Monroe on the 1962 Golden Globes.

Kardashian recently made headlines for wearing an Attallah cross necklace once worn by Princess Diana. Made of gold, silver, amethyst and diamonds, it was the prized signature of the Princess of Wales.

The cross’s original owner, Naim Attallah, who often allowed Diana to wear it, sold it to Kardashian after she won it at auction in January 2023.

Kim first wore the necklace in public on her forty fourth birthday in October, after which on November 2 on the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) 2024 Art+Film Gala.

In addition to facing criticism for dressing like legends, she was accused of appropriating black culture.

One of the persistently she was scrutinized for her inclusion in black culture was when she wore Fulani braids after which said they were from a Seventies white actress who wore them in a 1979 movie “10”.

She hopped on Snapchat and said she was crazy about “Bo Derek Braids.”

Fans were quick to remind her that these hairstyles originated in Africa and encouraged her to learn more.