Kim Kardashian Has Dropped the “West,” But Not Her Love for Balenciaga

Like her ex Ye (formally known as Kanye West) and her favorite designer Demna (formally known as Demna Gvasalia) before her, Kim Kardashian has officially changed her name. The 41-year-old mogul dropped the “West” when she finally became legally single earlier this week, just over a year after filing for divorce. In fact, it’s so official that she’s finally removed the “West” from her Instagram and Twitter display names as of yesterday.

Kardashian may have started a new chapter of her life, but she’s stuck with having another thing in common with Ye: an undying love of Balenciaga. Shortly after their separation became public, Kardashian stepped out in Los Angeles wearing head-to-toe Demna designs, including a leather jacket with the house’s name prominently emblazoned on its sleeves. One would have expected her to move on from a brand so closely associated with her ex—not to mention his recent ex, Julia Fox, whom Ye essentially enlisted to fill the role of his personal Balenciaga muse. (“It definitely felt like I was his girlfriend. But it also felt like I was being cast in the role of his girlfriend—and he was casting me,” Fox told the New York Times earlier this week. “He was the orchestrator of it all. It really did feel like a movie.”)

Then again, Kardashian has notably developed a relationship with Demna independent of Ye. She memorably brought Demna as her date to the 2021 Met Gala, which they attended in matching black Balenciaga ensembles that obscured their faces. What’s more, Kardashian recently landed her first Balenciaga campaign. Meanwhile, Ye’s relationship with Demna continues to go strong. Demna recently came on board to his Gap collab for a capsule known as Yeezy Engineered by Gap.

Now that she’s started wearing menswear, Kardashian does run the risk of accidentally wearing the same Balenciaga look as Ye. Or, come to think of it, as his new rumored girlfriend Chaney Jones, the Kim K lookalike who’s been looking more and more like his latest Balenciaga muse.