It seems like not a day does by that we’re not graced with new Kylie Jenner bikini photos.
Kylie has figured out a social media formula that works for her, and she clearly takes an “if ain’t broke don’t fix it” approach to her web presence.
(Granted, “people enjoy partial nudity” isn’t the most novel marketing strategy, but few have made it work as well as Kylie has.)
The 19-year-old queen of the ‘Gram rarely switches things up, and why should she?
She’s found a formula that’s helped make her social media pages some of the most popular and profitable on the Internet:
Show a lot of skin; occasionally the same crappy weight loss teas as everyone else; move mountains of lip kits to impressionable young people.
Today, however, Kylie switched things up and did something we’ve never seen her do before.
Interestingly, it seems she did so not by choice, but rather to avoid a costly and potentially very humiliating lawsuit:
Those lip kits that we mentioned?
Yeah, they’ve not only made Kylie millions, they’ve forced the cosmetics world to take her seriously as an entrepreneur, and not just Kim’s very ambitious little sister.
Of course, the kits are nothing special on their own, and they won’t give you lips like Kylie’s.
(You’ll need to drop a sizable chunk of change on “temporary fillers” to achieve that effect.)
The real key to the success of the kits is the marketing – and for that it seems Kylie may owe a sizable debt to a largely unknown artist named Vlada Haggerty.
Kylie has been accused of copying Haggerty’s work for her signature drippy lip logo, and now it seems she’s making it up to the artist with multiple Instagram shout-outs.
She posted the photo above earlier this week, with a caption reading:
“This really is everything. Check out the wonderful makeup art of @vladamua!”
She followed that up with even more praise and another example of Vlada’s work:
“Check out this inspiring photograph from @juliakuzmenko and @vladamua!” Kylie captioned the pic.
As you may have guessed, this wasn’t a simple case of Kylie acknowledging her creative debt to an artist who inspired her.
According to TMZ, Haggerty filed accused Kylie of trademark infringement and filed suit.
In documents obtained by the website, Kylie’s lawyers claim that she has a “history of taking Haggerty’s original dripping lip art and passing it off as Kylie’s.”
The suit appears to have been settled out of court, and Kylie’s shout outs are likely mandated by the terms of the agreement.
Naturally, some fans were quick to call shenanigans.
“You are always and will always be a copy cat,” wrote one follower.
“Have your own style, swag and body for once in your life… Have a mind of your own Kylie.”
Harsh words, but it’s true that Kylie’s lack of originality will likely continue to be a detriment to her career as she gets older.
You can’t be Kim Kardashian’s mini-me forever and expect the public to stay engaged.
We already have one Kim.
