Kim Kardashian Flaunts Massive Balenciaga Stash Amid New Deal Backlash

Kim Kardashian has been officially announced as a brand ambassador for Balenciaga. 

To celebrate the news, the reality television personality featured in her inaugural campaign for the brand, all from the comfort of her closet filled with 129 Balenciaga bags. 

Kardashian's ambassadorship comes more than a year after she mentioned "re-evaluating" her association with the fashion house in the wake of the 2022 BDSM-themed child campaign.

Despite the earlier separation, Kardashian, known for donning Balenciaga at the Met Gala and participating in Paris Fashion Week, has rekindled her association with the longstanding French fashion brand. "The Kardashians" star took to social media to post three slides featuring two images and a video of her in her massive home closet.

While the first photo showed her posing sexily on a bag shelf with her hip and derrière shooting out as she used three handbags as pillows, the second was of her standing with one hand on her waist and the other holding a black Balenciaga bag. 

In the campaign video, Kardashian guesses she has 130 bags before meticulously counting each one on colorful shelves. Almost forgetting a bag, she counts a total of 129, exclaiming, "I'm one bag off, you guys, I won."

For the view, she donned a tight black bodysuit and her classic "wet hair" look, writing in the caption, "Balenciaga #closetcampaign." As expected, the campaign was met with controversy and criticism, with thousands of Instagram users taking to the comment section to air their opinions.

"You're a mother. We didn't forget last years campaign," one critic stated. Another person expressed, "I usually respect kim's business decisions so much. however, this is so tone deaf, and goes against everything she has said publicly."

A third social media personality claimed, "Disappointed that you would do this," while a fourth noted, "How quickly she forgot about the kid bondage campaign once she saw the $$$$$," and a fifth declared, "Guess we forgot that they were apart of human trafficking."

Similarly, this Instagram user shared, "They really think we gnna forget the pedo campaign," and yet another added, "this is exactly why Kourtney said you'll do anything and everything for money."

It is worth noting that after the official announcement of Kardashian's return to Balenciaga on Monday, the mother of four released a statement. According to The Blast, she shared her excitement on Instagram, disclosing:

"For several years now, Balenciaga's designs have been a part of my many looks – and some of my most iconic fashion moments. This historic fashion house embraces modernity and craftsmanship and takes an innovative approach to design under Demna. For me, this long-standing relationship is built on mutual trust and a commitment to doing what's right. I'm excited about this next chapter for the brand and to become their ambassador."

Regarding the backlash Balenciaga received in November 2022 after a controversial marketing campaign featured images of children posing with BDSM-inspired items, Kardashian declared that she was "shaken" and "disgusted" by the images. 

"As a mother of four, I have been shaken by those disturbing images. The safety of children must be held with the highest regard, and anything against it should have no place in our society – period," she famously added at the time.

Even though it seemed genuine, critics were dissatisfied with Kardashian's initial response to the company's controversial ad, believing she should have severed ties with the brand immediately. 

When addressing the controversy on the "Angie Martinez IRL Podcast" later in December 2022 "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star delved deeper into her perspective.

"I'm like, wait; I'm not in this campaign. I don't know what's happening. Let me take a minute to research this, and then as soon as I saw what everyone was seeing on the internet and the reality of the situation, I completely spoke out and gave my thoughts on child porn and completely denounced it," she began.

Kardashian then acknowledged that, regardless of her statements and the disgust contained within, there will always be people who take issue with how she handles situations. In her words:

"Because I didn't say, f— you, Balenciaga,' that's it, people got mad at that. So, it's like they're mad if I don't speak out, they're mad if I do speak out and if I don't cancel [Balenciaga]."

The SKIMS founder pointed out that although she recognized the intensity of cancel culture, she believed it was not her role to cancel a brand or individual. She concluded that, in such situations, it seemed challenging for her to win unless people heard what they specifically wanted to hear.