Kim Kardashian’s Balenciaga Era Is a Clean Slate for the Star

While Kardashian has had bombastic and excessive fashion moments, her Balenciaga era is a clean slate, a tabula rasa setting the stage for what’s to come. She is now 41 and in the process of getting a divorce from the man who introduced her to the boundless world of clothes—though his influence is still felt. It’s not as if she’s trying to hide in those masks but rather make a statement. It’s powerful that she can be totally covered up and still instantly recognizable. There is something about Kardashian entering our feeds, totally covered up or in logo-less gowns, that makes me feel like she is cocooning herself, gearing up to spread her wings in her next sartorial stage. We’ve already seen this micro-transformation as she wears Balenciaga: entering the world shrouded in black and exiting it in hot-hot pink. While it isn’t a minimalist era of Kardashian’s, it certainly feels like she is resetting her style, forgoing visible logos and transforming into Gvasalia’s canvas.

Kardashian has already been through different fashion stages. In the aughts, she was marked by Juicy Couture tracksuits, logomania, and Paris Hilton. When she met West, he cleaned out her closet and gave her an HGTV-style makeover, putting her in Tisci-era Givenchy and Balmain. In 2018 she posed as her estranged husband’s muse in the paparazzi-captured look book for his brand, Yeezy. Kardashian then entered her archive era, wearing pieces like über-rare Alaïa catsuits and an epic Tom Ford–era Gucci thong. She even got Manfred Thierry Mugler out of retirement to create an impossibly cinched dress for the 2019 Met gala that made KK look like she was dripping with water.

Plenty of celebrities have gone through their sartorial eras and their transformations: Rihanna, Madonna, and Lady Gaga, to name a few. Some stars dive into trends, but Kardashian, in her own right, is a trailblazer. Right now she’s a happy Balenciaga ambassador. She’s doing her thing. It has us wondering: What’s next?