kim kardashian
photo: Instagram/kimkardashian

Kim Kardashian loves her name and it makes her a bazillion dollars, so she likes to play on it often with her business ventures. We get it. There's KKW Beauty. KKW Fragrance. Kimoji. Kimye. Oh, the last one isn't a business. Yet. 

Nevertheless, her latest brand launch has people a little offended. In yet another episode of "Kim Kardashian Appropriates and the World Gets Mad Then the World Moves On," Kardashian is being dragged for disrespecting Japanese culture with her new shapewear brand Kimono.

Culturally-appropriating Kim Kardashian strikes again. 

Kardashian announced her new Kimono shapewear brand on Tuesday. 

The launch was a surprise yet very on-brand. Kardashian's new shapewear will come in nine different nude shades and go up to a size 4XL.

"Finally, I can share with you guys this project that I have been developing for the last year. I’ve been passionate about this for 15 years," she wrote about the upcoming launch. "Kimono is my take on shapewear and solutions for women that actually work. 

People were already side-eyeing the brand for omitting plus-size women from its initial campaign photos.

"Alright, Kim, I love the idea but can you give us models of all different body sizes especially since you will be selling size XS-4X. I don't see a size 4X there," one fan critiqued. 

It was just super strange that Kim Kardashian included plus-size women in her size offerings but didn't feature any of them in her initial launch photos. Like, why? Plus-size women deserve visibility too. They're campaign-worthy too. 

Kardashian eventually did share photos of a few plus-size models on the new Kimono Instagram page.

This is great, but next time, we want to see plus-size bodies in the group shot, k? There's no reason at all why they were not included initially. Plus-size bodies deserve visibility that doesn't come in the form of afterthought inclusion. That's not a hard concept to grasp.

Now Kardashian is receiving backlash about yet another glaring problem with her Kimono brand. Um, KIMONO?

For clarity, a kimono is "a long robe with wide sleeves traditionally worn with a broad sash as an outer garment by the Japanese," according to Merriam-Webster.

"Kim Kardashian wants to trademark the word kimono — something that bears cultural significance to Japanese people, and apparently yet again we’re just supposed to bend over and take it. Is it the most offensive thing ever? No. Can she easily find a new name? Yes," one person critiqued.

People are also making note of the lackadaisical way Kardashian is responding to the backlash.

"Japanese people are explaining to Kim why her new shapewear line's name is offensive, and she's just tweeting through it, not acknowledging them and continuing to send out links to pieces from the line. smh," one person wrote. 

If you know anything about Kim Kardashian West, then you know that seven times out of 10, she'll ignore a scandal instead of responding to it. The name of the PR game is to ignore a problem until the next viral thing catches the public's attention. Kardashian plays it very well, as screwed up as that may be.

Japanese people are specifically pissed off that she straight-up trademarked the word kimono.

japanese kimono kim kardashian
photo: Twitter/_nightinggalep_

Trademarking the name of a traditional Japanese garment is A LOT, and it's PEAK Kim.

"I usually don’t get upset about stupid [redacted] like this but Kim Kardashian went and TRADEMARKED the word Kimono (for her brand)... Like seriously go [redacted] right off," one person wrote. "THIS is a Kimono, not your [redacted] clothing line. People need to quit disrespecting Japanese culture, like ASAP."

Imagine that. A white person owning the trademark to the Japanese word kimono. 

"Sorry that I can’t get over it but... Noticed that Kim took the domain Kimono[dot]com for underwear!! And filed trademarks. Just so sad. This domain should be a home to beautiful pictures of Japanese #kimono[s], inviting everyone to indulge in a nice tradition. #KimOhNo," a person pointed out. 

Critics think she's completely disrespected the origins of the kimono.

"Kimonos are like wearable classical Japanese art pieces. Each robe and sash is so unique and beautiful that much match the wearer both [in] style and personality. Many have been featured like this in anime and manga as well as live action films and classic Japanese art. WTH Kim!?!" someone vented. 

They've also started the hashtag #KimOhNo. 

This Japanese woman also shared several photos of herself wearing a traditional kimono to get her point across.

"Kim, I’m sure your shapewear’s nice, but please don’t take the name of a beautiful, traditional Japanese wardrobe and use it for your undies. This is me in various kimonos over the years. Hairstyle may not be traditional, but my kimonos sure were," a person shared. 

Sadly, I seriously doubt that Kardashian changes the Kimono name. 

And now it's time for a little honesTEA. Sorry if it's a little too hot to swallow. 

photo: BET

Kardashian going so far as to trademark the name of a sacred piece of Japanese culture to sell a shapewear brand that she could have literally named anything else is peak Kim. It's also what happens when a culture emboldens a white woman to appropriate culture, often without consequence.

Loads of people roll their eyes and groan on Twitter every time black people call out Kardashian and the rest of her family for appropriating black culture with braids, du-rags, faux locs, lingo, and whatever else. It's been happening for at least 10 years, and at this point, plenty of people just blink and move on whenever they do it. People have told us to stop complaining and to get over it.

Perhaps if our society — particularly the media — had properly handled Kim Kardashian's appropriation from the start by calling her out for using pieces of other cultures for profit and clout, then we wouldn't be in this place where a white woman can even feel comfortable owning the trademark and URL for the word kimono. All of her past behavior just served as the stepping stone to this level of blatant cultural appropriation. 

I stand with Japanese people in calling out Kim Kardashian for having zero reverence for the beauty of their culture. Now I urge people of all colors to stand behind black folks when we lead the charge against culture vultures instead of letting us take the beating from trolls alone. Ignoring black folks got us here, so let's do better and not let up on cultural appropriation when it affects any marginalized people.

I told you the tea was hot. Hope your throat is doing OK.