Balmain Just Shaded Kendall Jenner Hard on Instagram
Kendall Jenner has been a no-show at every European fashion show besides Givenchy, and now it looks like Balmain is shading her.
It’s weird — she didn’t even show up for Chanel or Fendi despite being a favorite of Karl Lagerfeld. She also skipped every show in London and Milan. And she didn’t show up at Balmain despite her family and Olivier Rousteing being attached at the hip for the past four fashion seasons.
We’ve been speculating about it, Vogue has been speculating about it, and people are pretty confused.
Well, today, Balmain did something super sketch on its Instagram Story.
The Story — Balmain’s first ever — shows Alessandra Ambrosio getting ready for last week’s Balmain show, which Kendall did not walk in.
Now here’s the shady part: There’s a segment with a French-speaking fan who’s waiting to see the models. She lists out all the models she expects to see, and the editors who made the video list their names as she says them.
When she gets to “Kendall,” she pauses then adds in French (we’ll translate it for you because we’re classy as fuck), “no, she’s not there.”
And the editors cross Kendall’s name out.
SHOTS. FIRED.
Balmain could have easily left out this girl’s comments. Instead, they very pointedly included a little girl basically scoffing, “oops, no, not Kendall,” and crossed out her damn name.
What does it all mean? Is Balmain mad Kendall skipped their show? Is Kendall getting ousted from the fashion industry due to her apparent feud with Gigi? We do not know.
A Balmain-Kardashian-Jenner squabble is not likely, since Kim, Kourtney, and Kris attended the show despite Kendall’s absence. It’s probably just that Kendall’s being pickier about her shows now that she’s more established — although Givenchy is a truly WTF choice for exclusivity.
Either way, Olivier Rousteing and co. are social media savvy enough to know this could create a shit storm if enough people pay attention. Nicely done, Balmain.