100 Most Influential Companies 2023 - Leaders

From artificial intelligence to fashion, the businesses and leaders shaping our future

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Skims

Kim Kardashian and the shaping of culture

BY BELINDA LUSCOMBE

At this juncture, most people have already made up their minds about Kim Kardashian. They've either decided she's an early nepo baby with zero talent who has rid-

den her sex appeal and shamelessness to fame and fortune and can safely be ignored, or she's a once-in-a-generation mix of beauty and determination who hustled her way up from being Paris Hilton's assistant with her weapons-grade detector for cultural relevance, and can move any needle she pushes.

Until recently, the one person who didn't seem to have quite made up her mind about Kim Kardashian was Kim Kardashian. Her uncertainty is reflected in the slew of businesses she started, including two beauty lines, a jewelry collection, multiple perfumes, Kimojis, and a mobile game, most of which were profitable for a season, but never really stuck. At the beginning, when I didn't really understand where my career was going because I was just kind of winging it, I would do licensing deals with a lot of different companies that would contradict themselves, like a cupcake brand with a weight-loss pill at the same time, she says. Skims, which first offered underwear and shapewear but expanded into loungewear, swimwear, tees, and dresses, has changed that and the way the business world sees her. Talking about her most successful solo venture, Kardashian seems relieved. I feel like, OK, I did it.