Mere months after Kendall and Kylie Jenner landed in hot water for selling “vintage” T-shirts featuring, inexplicably and without permission, images of Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G. and other iconic musicians with the reality stars’ own pictures superimposed on top, the sisters are once again the subject of the wrong kind of media attention.
The Kendall + Kylie Lee leather clutch; Image: Kendall + Kylie/Saks Fifth Avenue
This time, the controversy concerns the Jenner siblings’ recently released Kendall + Kylie fall handbag line. One of the products, a top-handle clutch modeled after a Chinese takeout container, bears a striking resemblance to a bag from Deborah Lloyd’s Fall 2014 Kate Spade (then Kate Spade New York) collection. Lloyd, who’d spent much of the past year on trips to Asia — particularly Shanghai and Tokyo — took inspiration from her travels.
A Chinese takeout-inspired bag at Kate Spade New York Fall 2014; Image: Imaxtree
Of course, there are distinctions between the bags. The Kate Spade version features a pagoda. The $150 Kendall + Kylie handbag is far less culturally sensitive. It bears the words “KK Express — Los Angeles, CA” across the front. The type surrounds a graphic of a tiger. Worst of all, the bag is called the “Lee leather clutch,” after the popular/stereotypical Asian surname.
Ethically, the bag is beyond questionable. And yet it’s already sold out.
[ via W Magazine ]
