Kim Kardashian is a fashion icon. From bodycon dresses in 2008 to Yeezy athleisure in 2018, if Kim wears something, it's guaranteed to become an instant trend.
But just how achievable is Kim's super sexy style? Jess and I decided to find out. We picked three of Kim Kardashian's most famous looks and recreated them, piece by piece, to prove that "sexy" style has NO size.
Let's be real: Jess and I have GREAT style — but neither of our looks are terribly Kardashian adjacent.
I describe my style as "luxurious witch." I don't wear a lot of color, live for an aggressively ugly shapeless dress, and I'd kill someone for the perfect leather jacket.
Jess describes her style as "Iconic. Revolutionary. With lots of crop tops." She likes to take risks, and has never found a crazy pair of pants or a jumpsuit she wasn't in love with.
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Jess and I have pushed a LOT of our style boundaries together. So we decided to recreate three of Kim's most iconic outfits to show that her signature ~sexy style~ has NO size.
"Kim's style is all about her body," said Jess. "But even if you don't have an ass like that, you can still dress cute. I'm excited to dress like Kim."
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The first look that we recreated was Kim's ICONIC transparent pant look from NYFW.
"FBF to that time in NY when I didn’t think my pants would photograph that see thru," read Kim's Instagram caption on the look.
Jess and I decided to recreate this look, as it has all the hallmarks of Recent Kim's style: oversize coats with powerful structural elements, a monochrome color scheme, and surprise nudity.
Plus, we didn't have to worry about doing our hair. Towel life.
Watch our reactions below and keep reading for the full story and photos.
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"This is definitely what I'd wear to a fashion show," said Jess, jokingly.
"I didn't want to wear tights like Kim did, so I wore a pair of ASOS black leggings instead ($29 for 2 pair, ASOS) in size 20. They're comfortable, but not see-through."
"I rolled up a tank top to recreate Kim's strapless bra, and I felt exposed," said Jess. "The jacket from Universal Standard saved this look for me."
"Kim is wearing clear plastic shoes," said Jess. "I can't afford Yeezys, but I CAN afford Jessica Simpson. Even if they make my feet look like canned chicken."
"These Jessica Simpson Sherron heels ($80, Amazon) are nude, like Kim's shoes, and they have the clear plastic that she and Kanye like," said Jess. "My feet started sweating in these after five minutes — Kim must have sold her soul to wear these."
"My towel is just from home," said Jess. "I think I got it from Macy's. Kim's towel is probably more expensive than my whole life."
"I don't think I'd wear this look even on Instagram," said Jess. "I felt really sexy, but I didn't feel like me."
I was also experiencing a similarly "not me," Kim-induced fashion moment.
I love for all-black-everything, but I would NEVER wear these things together.
For one thing, Kim says she "didn't know" her pants were see-through. I was VERY aware that you could see through my ASOS leggings.
These leggings ($13, ASOS) were soft and warm. They were ALSO very transparent! Kim is definitely confident enough to walk around with her bits on display, but I like a little more coverage when I leave the house.
Because I don't have anything boob-tube related, I improvised with a Uniqlo sports bra.
This sports bra ($20, Uniqlo) has a scoop neck and racer back, but you kind of can't tell under the jacket. I love Uniqlo for work out clothes, but if you're looking at their sports bras, DEFINITELY size up. I'm wearing a small here, and I feel *too* encased."
The black blazer was the best part of my Kim-sperience, honestly.
This black blazer ($75, Nordstrom) was really cute — slouchy, cool, and very Kim-like. I sized up to a US size 8 in this jacket, and it was worth it; the coat covered my butt so the world didn't see my underwear through the transparent leggings.
These nude heels, while VERY Kardashian in looks, turned out to be absolutely murderous to walk in.
These heels ($45, ASOS) are very high, and put a lot of pressure on the balls of your feet. I would wear these to an event where I was sitting down most of the time, but never for anything I need to walk around for.
And because I've just dyed my hair, I needed to be ~extra~ careful with wrapping it... or maybe just plain extra. Enter the most luxurious hair towel in the whole world — something I'm sure Kim would approve of.
This is the Aquis luxe hair towel ($30, Nordstrom), the only towel soft and safe enough to wrap up my very traumatized, quadruple processed, no longer dyed black hair. It is amazing when my hair is wet and I need it out of my face, and it's also amazing when I'm pretending to be a Kardashian for work.
Although this Kim-inspired look wasn't our favorite, we still learned some important Kardashi-lessons.
"I'm happy I wore this, because this is far away from my personal style," said Jess. "I didn't feel confident in it at first, but you HAVE to be confident to be Kim. So I acted confident, and then I started to feel like I looked cute in this look."
I felt like I was ready to go to the gym, but I looked like I was ready to present at a board meeting. I would never dress like this to sit front row at fashion week, but I admit, it's kind of a power move for Kim to have done so.
I'm not going to ask who wore it best, because we all wore our respective outfits like absolute queens.
"We look great in these outfits," said Jess. "You, me, Kim — we all have different bodies. But we all look beautiful."
The second Kim Kardashian look that we recreated was even more risqué than the first.
This is KLASSIC Kim — a long duster, incredibly tight pencil skirt, and sheer bra worn as a top.
You know. Exactly what we'd all wear to go to the bodega at midnight for gummi bears.
"I REALLY felt like Kim in this outfit," said Jess. "Mostly because I was almost naked."
"I owned most of the stuff I used to make this look — except for the wig," said Jess. "I don't know what that says about me."
"I loved wearing this satin jacket," said Jess. "But wearing a sheer bra like Kim made me feel anxious."
Jess wore a Rebdolls satin duster ($34, Rebdolls). "It gets wrinkly," said Jess. "That's the only problem about it. I feel like a wizard in this coat. And I need to, because I gotta keep it open!"
"Kim loves to have her titties out," said Jess. "I don't want my nipples on the internet. So this robe needs to stay CLOSED."
Jess' bra and pencil skirt are, sadly, both discontinued items.
What REALLY makes Kim's look, however, is her striking platinum hair. We weren't ready to bleach our hair, but we WERE ready to buy cheap lacefronts from Amazon.
This platinum gray wig ($40, Amazon) was the PERFECT Kim-goes-blonde wig. "I thought this wig would make me look sick," said Jess. "But I look cute. Like sexy Harry Potter."
(Jess has never seen or read Harry Potter, so I'm not quite sure which character she was talking about.)
I, too, felt like a silver fox in this look. A naked silver fox, mind you. But still a fox.
"Blonde Morticia Addams" is how most people described my style on Instagram, and you know what, they're not wrong.
While I LOVED this platinum wig, I felt like it washed me out with my Kim-approved all-nude-everything makeup. Maybe with a bright red lip I'd have felt more like myself.
Tokyo Stylez is selling the exact wig used in the Yeezy season 6 campaign on his website — for $956.
And, OK, my Amazon synthetic ($40, Amazon) isn't quite as good — but it's still GOOD. It makes me kind of sad that I'll never get all the black dye out of my hair and be able to go light like this!
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As a top, I wore my favorite sexy lil' thing — Negative Underwear's Essaouira bra. It's not exactly the same as Kim's sheer bra, but I felt it was the same in spirit.
I love the wide lace mesh of this bra ($80, Negative Underwear) and how comfortable it is. I've also been assured that Negative is working to expand it's size range, because boobs of all sizes deserve cute bras-worn-as-tops.
Additionally, I DO HAVE NIPPLES. You don't see them because I wear silicone nipple covers whenever I do bra stories.
What elevates this look from Krazy to Kardashian is the long duster coat.
I sized up to a US size 8 in this long duster ($87, ASOS) to really embrace Kim's sartorial sprit — naked AND overdressed at the same time.
And because I didn't want to track down a black pencil skirt, I just rolled down the top of a midi-length nightgown I bought from Target. The best thing about dressing like Kim is that everyone will be too busy staring at your nipples to worry about why your skirt looks a little crazy around the waist.
Though neither of us would wear this outfit voluntarily, we did learn things from recreating this look of Kim's.
You're not really friends until you've spent the best part of two hours brushing and styling their wig for them. This look really brought us closer — perhaps not to Kimmy, but certainly to each other.
"I didn't really love this look," said Jess. "Maybe with a real shirt, I'd like it more. But I don't feel comfortable like this in just my bra. This is Kim's idea of sexy, but it's not mine."
I think that's the real takeaway from this look. At every size, people are always being told what is and is not "sexy" — a tight skirt, high heels, and practically no shirt is the textbook definition of "sexy style." But if you don't feel hot and powerful in your outfit, it's not sexy. YOU make the CLOTHES hot — clothes will never make you sexy if you're not feeling them.
Again, I'm not going to ask who wore this outfit better, because we are ALL winners — we all got to eat candy.
Would Jess and I wear this to get gummy bears in the middle of the night? Probably not.
Did we wear this to run to a little store in our building? Absolutely we did.
Finally, we recreated a Kim Kardashian x Yeezy fashion look.
This outfit reflects the many disparate elements that make up Kim Kardashian West's style in 2018: baggy pants that are somehow very form-fitting! A bra as a shirt! Sock boots! Hair! And, of course, Kim's smoothie.
"I think I AM Kim in this outfit," said Jess. "Don't try to tell me otherwise."
"At first I felt self-conscious about wearing just a bra, but then I thought, 'Kim doesn't care. She owns it.' And I knew that I could, too.
"Honestly, I picked this Lane Bryant sports bra because it was dark gray and looked like Kim's — but it surprised me. It's a REALLY comfortable plus-size sports bra!"
"This bra ($69, Lane Bryant) was supportive and, most of all, it was cute. It made me feel confident wearing it as a shirt!"
"These sweatpants made me feel like I was ready to lie on my couch and watch Netflix, but I'm also ready to get sexy."
"I was anxious that you could see my belly through these thin gray sweatpants ($20, Kohl's," said Jess. "But if you're Kim Kardashian, you don't have time for that. I feel like I'm going to the gym at 7, but then I gotta meet a man at 8."
"The best part of this look was my designer imposter Yeezy boots," said Jess. Let's call them Cheezys.
"My Cheezys ($20, Amazon) were uncomfortable, but SO cute," said Jess. "Wearing something out of my comfort zone like this made me feel like I was taking a risk. And that's very sexy to me, trying something new."
I don't think I could ever describe my style as "sexy athleisure" — but once Jess helped me get the wig on, I felt like this entire Kim-spired look really came together.
Maybe my wig cap was too tight. Maybe the boots were cutting off circulation to my brain. But I really started to look at Kim's style differently — it's not a type of sexy that ONLY SHE can do because she's Extremely Hot. Her style is sexy, and everyone can do it.
I also managed to find the one pair of sweatpants on EARTH tighter than Kim's. Bonus: These Champion sweats ($55, Nordstrom) created the illusion that I have WAY more ass than I really do. Thank u, pockets.
Like Jess, I *also* fell in love with my Kim-inspired gray sports bra.
The A.L.O. sports bra ($64, Nordstrom) is SUPPORTIVE. It holds my boobs up without pushing them up. It is comfortable, both to work out in AND to lay around looking fine in.
And it. Is. CUTE.
Not only did this bra bring me ~closer to Kim~ it also helped me expand my inner definition of sexy.
I don't really ever feel sexy in a sports bra — my gym time makes me feel powerful and accomplished, but not sexy.
This sports bra makes me feel sexy! My back tattoo is out, the criss-cross straps are fashionable and functional, and I feel HOT.
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Like Jess, I was also unexpectedly into my faux-Yeezy sock boots. I think I might even like the angled block heel on these ASOS boots better than the real thing!
Sorry, Kanye — these beige, stretchy boots ($60, ASOS) are inexpensive AND cute. Were they comfortable? Absolutely not. But how can one dress like Kim without the full, these-shoes-are-impractical experience?
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This was by FAR our favorite Kardashian look out of the three. Cast us as models in your next Yeezy campaign, Kanye!
"When I want to feel sexy, I like to show off my shoulders or wear a crop top," said Jess. "I felt a little uncomfortable putting so much BODY out there, especially when I'm comparing myself to Kim Kardashian. But this look was fun! If I was styling it for myself, I might wear a sheer shirt with this, and black sweatpants instead of gray, but I felt cute."
I was the most skeptical about this outfit — but I ended up loving it. How could I say no to sweatpants that make my legs look THIS good?
Kim's casual sexy look worked for ALL of us. Kim is serving her empty parking garage realness, and Jess and I are serving empty office hallway glamour.
We didn't have smoothies, so we made ourselves a soda/La Croix instead.
So after recreating Kim Kardashian's style, what did Jess and I learn about DRESSING SEXY?
"Plus-size women are always told our bodies aren't good enough to be sexy," said Jess. "And I felt self-conscious dressing like Kim, who is the sexiest person. But then I embraced it. Style doesn't have a size, and it doesn't have a body type. Kim's fashion isn't just for rich, hourglass-shaped people. It's for me. It's for you. It's for everyone."
As someone who prefers to be covered up, I found Kim's EVERYTHING OUT fashion sense to be scary — but ultimately fun. It felt like I was playing a character, which gave me more freedom to push the boundaries of my own style.
This style experiment also really underscored to both Jess AND I that the secret to "dressing sexy" is, ultimately, confidence. If you FEEL like the hottest babe on the block, that's how you're going to look. "Love yourself, put yourself out there," said Jess. "That's Kim's TRUE style. I hope we bring some of that into our fashion closet as well."
But most importantly, we learned that when you have supportive, awesome friends, you can do literally anything.
Even wear a sheer bra as a shirt. Thanks for inspiring us, Kim.
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