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The launch of a celebrity brand is both mundane and rousing. Though it’s rarely groundbreaking when a public figure announces their new entrepreneurial project, due to the sheer frequency of them, we’re almost pressured to add our opinion regardless. Conversations circulate, complimenting inventiveness and speculating failure – and we, as their around-the-clock audience, are enticed to pick a side because after all, it’s a part of pop culture, a phenomenon which relies on commentary. Most recently, Kylie Jenner, the 26-year-old reality star responsible for her $1bn eponymous beauty company Kylie Cosmetics, declared her next career move in the fashion industry with her own clothing line, Khy. And there’s been a lot of talk. The moniker being motivated by her childhood nickname, Khy presents a line of mod items priced reasonably. To create the clothing line, Kylie partnered with her mom, Kris Jenner, as well as the impressive investor duo Emma and Jens Grede, co-founders of numerous celebrity brands such as Skims, Good American, and Brady. Khy aims to bridge the gap between quality and affordability with versatile pieces priced low, but high enough to forego the assumption of cheap garb. Between a bundle of faux leather outerwear with a subtle air of raunchiness, to nylon basics meant for layering, the fashion muse, along with designers Nan Li and Emilia Pfohl from the Berlin-based brand Namilia, crafted the first drop, surpassing $1m in sales within the first hour on 1 November, per a People report. “For this line the main goal is to bring major fashion pieces, and work with these amazing designers and have it be accessible – having everything in this first drop be under $200 dollars was very important to me,” the innovator told Vogue writer Luke Leitch. In conversation with the Wall Street Journal Magazine for its “Innovator’s Issue” ahead of the line’s debut, Kylie revealed she intends to rotate in a myriad of guest creatives to collaborate with throughout the year, with new drops to come every couple of weeks. However, the overarching concept for each collection will reflect her personal wardrobe and taste – this first, “001”, blending edgy character with biker chic. Her intention is allegedly to provide consumers with options suitable for every mood, which means we shouldn’t expect all pleather moto all the time. For me, the beauty mogul’s new venture drove a discerning fact to the forefront of my mind – luminaries are never going to stop creating namesake brands due to their financial standing and privileged connections, no matter their industry expertise or lack thereof. And this certainly rings true for the Kardashian/Jenners, a family with a growing appetite for commercial businesses. Admittedly, I was frustrated by Kylie’s decision to be an architect of her own label, knowing there’s a torrent of independent designers out there who’ve been working on contemporary projects for years and aren’t as widely recognised. For smaller creators, increasing brand visibility is challenging, while celebrities automatically have a widespread presence. But does that mean we should shame Kylie for utilising the mass following she’s built to advertise her new brand? Can we even compare the work of autonomous creatives to that of public figures? No. Because celebrities will inevitably take advantage of their notoriety, we need to be careful with how we talk about their business ventures, ensuring we aren’t lending fruitless attention to irrelevant points, unnecessarily boasting them or prematurely bashing them. According to Mosha Lundström Halbert, a fashion news writer and founder of “Newsfash,” an innovative media company, just as we can’t put celebrity clothing brands into the same category as renowned fashion houses like Gucci or Balenciaga, we can’t compare them to smaller designers who started their career in school. The industry presents us with a platter of concepts, and they shouldn’t be grouped all-together. “Just because something is fashion, just because a company creates clothing doesn’t mean that it’s a fashion brand,” Halbert told The Independent. “My expectations for brands that celebrities come out with are very different than how I look at a brand by a designer who has either come out of a fashion school or worked in the industry.” “I think we can’t lump everything together just because they’re all creating clothing and accessories. I don’t see this as in competition with other established fashion brands, especially when you look at the price point and how many brands are already on the market,” she continued. “Small designers need to be focusing on their own work and not... worrying about what Kylie Jenner is doing. Like, there is completely different lanes.” The target audience for an independent designer isn’t the same for a celebrity creator. Famed figures, like Kylie, with millions of followers, are hoping the mass of people who show a dedicated intrigue in their personal style, reccomendations, and taste will want to purchase clothing with their name on it. “The most important thing to understand is that celebrity launches stand for ‘launches for the masses’. Whereas, most small designers have their niche audiences that are more community-driven,” Bernard Garby, a popular fashion news TikToker, pointed out. As someone who works on the commercial side of luxury goods, Garby reiterated to The Independent that there are different markets underneath the vast umbrella of fashion. “They are two complete opposite markets with two absolutely different target audiences. Therefore, my advice to smaller brands is to focus less on competition and focus more on growing their communities and developing their loyalty because that is their key to success,” he said. “If you’re a small designer with big commercial dreams, in fact, watch those celebrities and look at how they commercially approach and navigate their launch and get inspired by their work and see if there is anything you can adapt to your own business from their strategy,” Garby added. Whether we should speculate the success or failure of Kylie’s clothing venture, it’s too early, even though the reported sales so far suggest a favourable outcome. But there are a few factors that support both sides – the first being her unique selling point. At 17, Kylie capatilised on her love of makeup, noticing a need for matching lip liners and lipsticks as a frustrated consumer herself. During this time, she was also vocal about feeling insecure concerning the size of her lips, constantly overlining them before she got temporary filler in 2015. Therefore, the decision to outset a makeup brand was motivated by her identity. Her first product – a selection of lip kit duos – catalysed her entire empire. In Garby’s opinion, Kylie’s first company was “organic”. When we look at the streamline of successful businesses born from the Kardashian/Jenner family – Skims, Good American, Poosh – all were built based off an “organic” or intimate selling point. For Kim, making shapewear sexy reflected her longstanding sentiment of being unafraid to wear what you need to, to feel comfortable and confident in your figure. For Khloe, someone who’s spoken candidly about battling body insecurities amid public scrutiny, Good American focuses on size inclusivity, wanting to represent and empower women with a range of different body shapes. And Kourtney, the sister who’s avowed her love for wellness openly, invented Poosh, a “modern guide to living your best life,” according to her. “Looking at the Kardashians, it’s actually really interesting. They’ve tried a lot of businesses that haven’t panned out,” Halbert remarked. Between Dash, the family’s retail chain born in Calabasas which eventually closed in 2018, to “The Kardashian Kard,” a prepaid MasterCard debit card, the ravenous reality bunch weren’t always triumphant in their enterprises. So, if having an intimate devotion or being established in a particular niche has proven to help Kardashian brands prosper in the past, does this mean it won’t be long before Khy goes under? Speaking to Vogue, Kylie pointed to the personal anecdote which drove her to create Khy, ensuring consumers understand this venture isn’t all that arbitrary. Like so many, Kylie was a “Tumblr girl” during her teen years, drafting mood boards to mirror her current obsessions. Dubbed “Kalifornia Klasss,” the adolescent used the platform to realise herself then and the woman she’d become. She was “King Kylie,” and Khy has every bit to do with that persona. “It is really significant. King Kylie for me was less about what I was wearing, and more about how I felt in that era. I just felt confident, free, and I didn’t care what anyone said,” she said. “I think that there’s a lot of power in that and I’m definitely channeling my King Kylie energy this year.” Aside from having a unique selling point, Garby noted how pertinent product quality is, especially inside a competitive market. A celebrity can be a known fashion muse, model, or aspiring designer, but a brand will never truly thrive if the quality of the product is poor. “Establishment can help you drive awareness - but in the end - it comes down to the actual product that they try to sell,” Garby noted. Based on the current selection of faux leather items, made from thermoplastic polyme, which can take up to 500 years to decompose, can emit toxic chemicals once discarded, and have the potential to shed microplastics while being used, per a Nomomente analysis, I personally don’t see how Khy differs from other designs already out there, with the cropped leather jacket and strapless midi dress seemingly familiar to what you see priced similarly at Zara. Nevertheless, Kylie’s not alone, being backed by Emma and Jens Grede, the all-too-competent pair who are already responsible for the continued achievement of other Kardashian brands. Emma, who grew up in London, co-founded Good American with Khloe, and Safely, Kris Jenner’s line of natural cleaning products. Meanwhile, Jens, originally from Sweden, partnered with Kim as a co-founder of Skims, driving the company value up to $4bn in the years since it’s initial launch, according to The New York Times. As of now, details on Khy’s subsequent drop, “002”, remain under wraps as an omnipresence of anticipation looms over an eager audience waiting to see what the brand will offer next. While we can only really judge Khy off of personal style preference, quality, and fit, time will tell whether it’s just another celebrity brand doomed to fail or whether “King Kylie” will irrevocably shape understated luxury and fashion fads to come. The Independent has contacted Kylie’s representatives for comment. 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Authorities in China have installed lasers on highways to stop drivers from falling asleep at the wheel. The addition of the anti-sleep lasers was made in a bid to improve road safety and a clip of how they work has gone viral online. It was popularised on X/Twitter by a user going by Science girl, who is known for sharing clips of some new and innovative initiatives. The video has been viewed 56 million times and shows some extremely bright laser lights shining out from an overhead sign, slowly flashing and changing colours above drivers. It is the aim to catch the attention of sleepy drivers and stop them from drifting off, reducing the risk of an accident occurring. Sciene girl wrote: “A video captured on the Qingdao–Yinchuan Expressway displays vibrant laser lights hovering above the vehicles. “Mr. Li, the person behind the camera, reported that these laser lights designed to combat fatigue quickly revitalized him and reduced his exhaustion during a prolonged nighttime.” But internet users were divided over whether the lasers would actually be effective. One person argued: “1) This would distract me. 2) This would put me to sleep when I got used to it.” Others joked that the lights were so bright that even if woke you up, it would also effect your ability to see properly. Another wrote: “Who’s genius idea is it to blind the drivers? Congrats, those who aren’t sleepy are now disoriented.” How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

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Taylor Swift delighted fans when she released 1989 (Taylor's Version) last month, but alas there is no rest when you're a Swiftie and no Easter egg unfound... Now, many believe that reputation (Taylor's Version) is set to be released this Thursday (November 9) - 13 days after the recent re-recording. A fan (@notalyssasue) has gone TikTok viral with her presentation on why she believes this to be the case, with supporting evidence to back her theory up. She starts by noting how everyone thinks the announcement will be on November 10 because that's the album's original release date back in 2017. @notalyssasue I love living on clownelia street #taylorswift #reputationtaylorsversion #reputationstadiumtour #swiftie #swifties #Inverted "So I know that you're looking at my crazy, but please hear me out," the TikToker says. On the Midnights album, there is the song on the 3 a.m. deluxe edition called 'Glitch' and has the lyrics: "But it's been two thousand one hundred and 90 days of our love blackout." To which @notalyssasue pointed out that Swift had a famous social media blackout ahead of her reputation era, "until randomly coming back one day." She has then calculated that the number of days between the original release date of reputation on November 10 2017 and November 9 2023 is 2,190 - like in the song 'Glitch.' "Gasp," she commented. Then the number of days between the release of 1989 (Taylor's Version) and November 9 is 13 days - Swift's favourite number. A coincidence? Meanwhile, recent snaps of Swift out and about with friends appear on the presentation as @notalyssasue highlighted how the singer's outfits have been "glitching" between blue and black - maybe signifying the shift from 1989 to reputation. Back in September, Taylor Nation posted a tweet celebrating the two years since the 'Wildest Dreams (Taylor's Version) release, "but they made sure to put emphasis whenever they referred to 'the glitch.'" She also noticed when going to pre-save 1989 (Taylor's Version) the screen "glitched" to black before returning to the blue colour. Swift has a history of announcing a re-recording release during one of her Eras tour shows, and on November 9 she does have a show at Estadio River Plate, Buenos Aires, Argentina. And most importantly of all, the TikTok made her final case: "I really, really want her to." A valid point. Since then, the video has received 1.1m views, 221,000 likes and thousands of comments from Swifties sharing their own theories about reputation. One person wrote: "I don't think she's going to announce it I think she's just going to drop it. No presales or anything. It's the hill I've chosen to die on." "AT THIS POINT I'M GONNA SUPER DISAPPOINTED IF SHE DOESN'T DO ANYTHING THE 9TH OR 10TH, i don't wanna clown again," another person said. Someone else added: "CALENDAR HAS BEEN MARKED." "What if she announces rep tv on Nov 10 then releases on New Year’s Day," a fourth person commented. Meanwhile, other hints that Swift appears to be teasing reputation as the next re-record release include the "S" in 1989 (Taylor's Version) resembling a snake. Additionally, fans who have been buying merch have noticed the star confetti that comes in the parcel is mostly blue, except for one black star. Could Swift really be announcing or potentially dropping reputation (Taylor's Version) so soon? Guess we'll have to wait until November 9 and 10 to find out... How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.