If you call the phone numbers printed across Kendall and Kylie Jenner’s new t-shirts, you’ll reach either a voicemail recording from Kendall, in which she prompts you to leave a message after the beep, or a prank “Hello,” from Kylie, that you might mistake for a real connection.
It’s a clever and fun engagement experiment in conjunction with the second drop from their eponymous label, Kendall + Kylie, which they launched previously at New York Fashion Week Spring 2016. Because if there’s one thing these two sisters are known for in addition to their trendsetting style, it’s connecting with their fans via cell phones.
To compliment the brand’s core basics of bodycon dresses, bomber jackets, and bodysuits, each season Kendall + Kylie release items that both define trends and respond to the ones they’ve either seen or worn themselves on the runways. For example, Drop2 includes latex dresses, early 2000s-style denim mini skirts, and baseball hats bearing popular internet phrases such as: “Sh-t is lit.”
One accessory that stood out, however, was a pair of razor-thin black sunglasses, much like the ones worn by characters in The Matrix. The sci-fi look made a comeback first at the Balenciaga Fall 2017 show in March, and the Kardashian/Jenners have pushed the look even further ever since, with plenty of black leather and latex mixed in to their recent public appearances.
When you think about it, the Jenners are particularly fitting subjects for a Matrix revival, seeing that both their personal and professional lives blur the difference between what is real and what is fake. What allows them to succeed is that they are all aware of this fact, and thus it is no coincidence that the only way to exit the Matrix is to pick up a phone.
What inspired the cell phone t-shirts? Do you guys ever talk on the phone, or do you prefer text?
Kendall: I prefer texting versus talking on the phone, but sometimes you have to take the call—it’s more personal and nothing is left to interpretation.