Shocking news flooded Instagram on Sept. 8, 2020, as the Kardashian-Jenner family announced they would not continue filming their hit reality television series, “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” (KUWTK). After 14 years of filming and 20 successful seasons, “KUWTK” is unfortunately coming to an end. According to an Instagram post from Kim Kardashian-West, the decision of no longer filming was a very difficult one for her and her family to make. In an article from Vanity Fair, it was revealed that the family has decided to “move on” and will air its final season in early 2021.
Since my first year of high school, I have been a huge fan of “KUWTK,” so hearing about the show’s ending feels like the end of an era for me. Every week on Sunday night at 8 p.m., I would look forward to watching the airing of the series’ new episode. I found that the hit series not only shaped those featured on the show into television celebrities, but also shaped them into beauty and fashion icons and entrepreneurs.
In 2007, when the show first aired, the Kardashian-Jenner family lived in a generously sized home and appeared very well-off for themselves. At that point in time, I was not yet watching the series. By the time I did start watching, in 2014, Kim Kardashian had been featured on the cover of Vogue alongside her husband Kanye West, Kylie Jenner had launched her own lipstick brand line, earning a million dollars and the other sisters had been in the process of launching their own beauty or fashion lines as well. “KUWTK” allowed the Kardashian-Jenner family to strive and succeed at achieving their goals, which I found to be one of, if not the greatest, outcomes from this hit series.
The youngest of the Kardashian-Jenner sisters, Kylie Jenner, who used her fame on the show to launch a beauty line has already made millions of dollars for herself. In just five years, Kylie Jenner’s Kylie Cosmetics has already hit the one billion dollar mark. This is an extraordinary success for a woman her age. Most 23 year olds cannot say they have made such success as Kylie has. Kylie was able to transition her fame of being a television star on “KUWTK,” to being a beauty mogul. Already known for her role in “KUWTK,” Kylie was able to leverage her fame to create one of the most lucrative businesses in the beauty industry.
“KUWTK” gave the women of the Kardashian-Jenner family a name for themselves. Many argue, to this day, that the family got rich from doing nothing. While it is accurate that the family was rich in the earlier seasons of the series, I found that the series gave an even greater voice and name to the family, and allowed for them to create and design numerous brand collections and collaborations. “KUWTK” gave the Kardashian-Jenner women a platform that enabled them to launch countless fashion and beauty lines. In my opinion, the best clothing brand they created was Kim Kardashian’s Skims line. Skims is a brand of shapewear that is offered in nine different colors. The clothing includes bodysuits, shorts and women’s undergarments. Over the years, Kim had grown frustrated that she could not always find clothing that provided her with the correct support or coverage, which was why she created and launched the Skims line.
Kim not only launched Skims for herself, but for other women who faced the same struggles she did. I find that in doing so, Kim was trying to foster positivity among women with curvier body shapes. All women, including myself, know what it feels like when you don’t fit into certain clothes due to your body type. This is an awful feeling that women encounter, and through the development of Skims, Kim was trying to alleviate the stress that women feel.
Overall, the Kardashian-Jenner women have been very successful in launching their clothing and beauty lines. Many of their successes are owed to the platform they created from “KUWTK.” While all of the Kardashian-Jenner women have made a name for themselves, the two who stand out the most are Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner. Last November Daily Mail wrote an article that discussed how Kim’s Skims shapewear was on its way to becoming a billion dollar brand, following in the footsteps of her youngest sister Kylie Jenner’s cosmetic lip kit brand. There is no question that these two women, along with their three other sisters, are overwhelmingly successful and have created brand lines about which they are very passionate.
Many, including myself, will be sad to no longer see the faces of the Kardashian-Jenner family on the television. One of the biggest questions being asked is: Why did the family decide to stop filming? While no one truly knows the exact answer to this question, I believe that the family is tasked with so many personal jobs and goals right now, between running stores, modeling and launching new brands, that filming the series had become too much for them. To add to that, there are so many uncertainties in our world today that may have played a role in the Kardashion-Jenner family decision to no longer film “KUWTK.” 20 years was a long time for the show to air, but I strongly believe that the show brought them nothing but great success and that the family is just as sad to stop filming as we, the viewers, are to stop watching.
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