Kim Kardashian has defended the backlash to her SKIMS maternity shapewear line after many people, including Jameela Jamil, attacked the ads.
The 39-year-old reality star took to Instagram over the weekend to share images from the new maternity shapewear collection, showing pregnant women sporting high-waisted panties, bodysuits and shorts.
However, some people took issue with the maternity line – since they are designed to hide flab and extra rolls.
Jameela, who is an outspoken critic of the Kardashians and their shenanigans, commented:
“I wish we could just normalize just focusing on the inside of a pregnant body, not the outside. You don’t need your shape corrected or hidden… Pregnancy is hard enough, with enough worries already… If I ever have a baby I’m welcoming the stretch marks, the new curves and I’m sure as s**t not gonna rush to try and snap back, I’m just gonna let my body heal from the Massive event that has occurred inside my body.”
Others complained that SKIMS did a terrible job Photoshopping an African woman into the ad. The African model is Photoshopped to darken her skin and she throws a large shadow on the model next to her. The other models have no such shadowing – even though they were snapped under the same studio lighting.
Kim took to her Twitter page to insist that the pieces are designed to support a pregnant woman’s bump – not hide it.
“To anyone who has an issue with maternity solutionwear, and if you haven’t been pregnant before you may not know the struggle of what it’s like carrying all of this weight the way I did along with millions of strong women, @skims maternity line is not to slim but to support,” she wrote.
“The belly part doesn’t slim your belly. It’s actually sheer and a thinner layered material compared to the rest of the garment. It provides support to help with the uncomfortable weight being carried in your stomach which affects your lower back -and the compression on the leggings helps with pain relief caused by swelling. It is also worn after you have given birth and provides the comfort and support that most women need after delivery especially if you are recovering from a cesarean.”
Kim added that the new line, available in nine colors and from sizes XXS to 5X, was created in response to “the tens of thousands of pregnant women who wrote us requesting it”.
