Last week, a 60-foot inflatable Kim Kardashian took to New York's Times Square like a docile Godzilla, laying on her side for masses of passersby to ogle. Promoting her clothing essentials brand, SKIMS, the unexpected stunt caused controversy and confusion online but to me, it's a prime example of one of fashion's biggest marketing trends – body as brand.
Sex sells. While it's an archaic marketing phrase that gives me an unshakable ick, it's been an undeniable fact in the branding sphere for decades, palatably repackaged in 2025 for the modern audience. Kim Kardashian is more than SKIMS' glamorised clotheshorse – a brand in itself, her body is the essence of its constructed fantasy of luxury. Branding has changed, but while we may have mostly moved on from the overt sleazy marketing tactics of the past, what takes their place is just as manipulative.
Kim Kardashian has been a pop culture titan for decades thanks to her enduring personal brand so it should come as no surprise that SKIMS has grown into a billion-dollar company under her influence. The very success of SKIMS lies in its simplicity – on the surface, a 'basics' brand flogging seamless undies shouldn't be as culturally iconic as it is, but its plain palatability is its greatest strength. Before fashion, SKIMS sells fantasy.
SKIMS is a dichotomy – a stripped-back brand with a faux approachability, marketed by a sea of unblemished celebrity skin. Featuring sports stars, supermodels and Miss Kardashian herself, SKIMS' ads aren't about the garments, but the flesh beneath them. To the viewer, each glossy SKIMS campaign is a promise – you too can look like this, all it takes is this $128 shapewear. Leveraging the insecurity of the consumer, body as brand marketing is more distrubing than it seems – even the most astute of us who feel we're immune to influencer marketing can fall for its seductions.
Inflatable Kim Kong's Time Square takeover is perhaps the very essence of SKIMS' genius yet contriving marketing technique. From her flawless skin to her perfectly exaggerated symmetrical curves, the campaign sells consumers the body before the garment. The strategic concealment of Kim's face only reinforces the brand's faux relatability, the idea that anyone can be a SKIMSfluencer. The brand has never been about Kim herself, but her body and what it represents – an unachievable refinement that feels just within reach, but only with a helping hand from the brand.
The commercial fashion industry is desperate to strike a balance between the allure of impossible perfection and consumer-friendly reliability – you only have to look at PrettyLittleThing's "quiet luxury" rebrand to see its effects. In essence, this marketing trend repurposes the fantasy found in the archaic 'selling sex' technique, using body as brand to captivate insecurity and spoon food consumers the solution.
