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Kim Kardashian's Fulani Braids And Sleeveless Dress Provokes Controversy

Photo credit: Instagram
Photo credit: Instagram

From ELLE

  • Kim Kardashian posted a throwback of her wearing Fulani braids, which she previously called 'Bo Derek braids.'

  • Kim once said she understands the origin and significance of the hairstyle and isn't tone deaf.


Kim Kardashian has posted pictures of her wearing Fulani braids—a hairstyle that originated in West Africa and the Sahel region of the continent. As with other times Kim has been seen to appropriate a culture, her comments section is now filled with people calling her out and others saying things like, "iT'S jUSt HaIR." Also, she is wearing a dress without sleeves, so there's that.

This afternoon, Kim captioned three photos with, 'Flash Back to my shoot with Vanessa Beecroft.' (Kim also worked with Vanessa for the launch of Kimono, her n0w-rebranded shareware line.) She didn't say anything about her hair or dress, but her followers were polarised in their thoughts on Kim's choice of look.

Almost immediately, her page was flooded with opposing comments like:

"Not them braids sis."

"Nooo no need to remind people of this."

"She said black history month is over, here’s the braids. i-"

"At this point she doin it all for attention like she know this gon make ppl mad."

"Can we just stop with the cornrows and baby hairs."

"So braids are just for black people?! White people are prohibited of doing braids? Its not like she’s taking credit for it. She just wearing it. Its just hairstyle."

"Feeling claustrophobic seeing that."

"What if you have an itch?"

"Damn u finna get backlash lol."

This isn't the first time Kim has been accused of cultural appropriation.

When Kim wore the style in January and June 2018, she insisted that she wasn't tone deaf and knew what she was doing when she stepped out of the house wearing the braids. She claimed toddler North West's excitement about the style as justification for wearing the braids and told Bustle:

'I [do] remember the backlash when I had the blonde hair and that I called them 'Bo Derek braids.' But I obviously know they're called Fulani braids, and I know the origin of where they came from and I'm totally respectful of that. I'm not tone deaf to where I don't get it. I do get it... But in no way am I ever trying to disrespect anyone's culture by wearing braids.'

View this post on Instagram

BO WEST

A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Jan 29, 2018 at 12:58pm PST

Whether intentional appropriation or not, Kim's life choices clearly aren't sitting well with her followers because they continue to call her out for this.

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