Earlier this week, Kim Kardashian caused a bit of a stir when she debuted a brand new (to her collection, at least), super rare, incredibly expensive Hermes Himalayan Crocodile Birkin that might be beautiful enough to wipe that George Condo painted HAC out of some (not all) Hermes lovers’ minds. A simple Google search of “Hermes Himalayan Croc Birkin” will show you which bag-loving celeb got her hands on the bag first, though – none other than Victoria Beckham, the original celebrity Hermes fanatic.
Beckham was the first star to bring this very exclusive bag to the attention of people beyond Hermes consumer circles, and it seems like Kim would be wise to try emulating Beckham’s gradual, years-long transition from tabloid fodder to fashion industry darling. The Victoria Beckham who once wore leather chaps in public seems like a distant memory now, but she used to be something of a joke to designers who feared that Beckham would devalue their brand image if she was spotted wearing their clothes. Victoria clearly wanted very badly to be accepted by an industry that was hostile to her, though, and she made it so by cleaning up her wardrobe, refining her personal style and demonstrating a commitment to fashion done correctly with her eponymous line.
As has been mentioned at Fashionista and elsewhere, Kim Kardashian is currently traversing a similar road, but her destination is still a bit unclear. If she can get her reality show off the air and continue to clean up her wardrobe (her coat game has been flawless lately and no one will tell me otherwise), then she might have a fighting chance. She’s already made a vast style improvement in the span of just a couple of years, and if you don’t believe me, we’ve got a place where you can check out some of her older outfits. Like Victoria, Kim is also wealthy far beyond the spoils of her day-to-day gig, which comes in handy when trying to redecorate your entire life.
For right now, though, we’re just judging what we see below. Who did a better job making her Himalayan Croc Birkin look like all of the thousands of dollars its worth? I’m on Kim K’s side, if only because she so clearly chose the outfit to accent her new bag, and who among us hasn’t done that at least once? (Or every time we get a new bag?)
