12:41 PM PDT 6/20/2018
by
Chris Gardner
Kris Jenner talks about her most prized possession from her “boss closet,” listening to her famous daughters and their business goals and what really happens on the new season of ‘Keeping Up With the Kardashians.’
It’s always a busy time for Kris Jenner and the many businesses she oversees on behalf of her children. That was a topic of conversation the 62-year-old momager and Kim Kardashian West discussed for 30 minutes as part of The Business of Fashion’s inaugurual BoF West summit on Monday at Westfield Century City mall.
Jenner took a few minutes to talk to The Hollywood Reporter about the chances for a permanent retail space for the beauty brands, L.A’s reputation as a beauty/fashion hub, and why the blowout fight featured on the next season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians is so hard to watch.
We’re standing in Kim’s new pop-up that follows Kylie Comestics pop-ups in multiple cities. Is there a chance to open a permanent space for either of the brands in the future?
You never say never. It’s something we look forward to doing in the future. It’s exciting. I know Kylie would like to do something like that one day, so this is a great way to test the waters and see what the retail experience in like.
You’re from San Diego but have spent your adult life in Los Angeles. What do you think of L.A.’s reputation as a fashion and beauty player now?
It’s all evolving. We have a great variety of things here in Los Angeles, but now that beauty is booming, what’s great about Los Angeles it that it seems to be the heartbeat of the beauty influencers. There’s so much amazing talent right here in our own backyard that it’s exciting to see these girls blossom.
What has been the most surprising thing for you about navigating the beauty scene compared to the other businesses you manage?
Just how fast things change and how you can have an idea and it can come to fruition in weeks which is remarkable. It’s exciting to dream something and actually have it be a reality in a very short period of time. With beauty, it’s something everybody is interested in no matter what your age or demographic. It’s such a diverse community that it makes me really happy that there’s so many people dipping their toe into a business that years ago was only for big, huge corporations.
Was it harder to push into beauty business in the beginning being that most are large corporations run by men?
I was able to put my preconceived notions aside and listen to my kids and their ideas and what they wanted to do. Kylie was really the first one to say, “Mom, I really figured out what I wanna do with my career, and I wanna start, and this is what I wanna do.” I trusted her because she knows better than anybody what she’s capable of doing. That’s when I realized that I had to put my “Mom” hat on and say, “Okay, I wanna help you follow your dreams. Let’s figure it out. Let’s roll up our sleeves. Let’s go.” I’m so proud of her because she really was very specific about the business that she wanted to build. To this day, she continues to think of new things all day long.
Kendall recently posted a video showing off your walk-in “boss closet.” Do you have a most prized possession in there or something you’re hoping to pass on to your children or grandchildren?
My most prized possessions are always my kids, but if you go to the material-level — and that particular room in my house — I love my Judith Leiber bag collection. My girlfriend, Dee Hilfiger, is the creative director for Judith Lieber and so she’s given me some really amazing bags but I’ve been collecting Judith Leiber since I was 20 years old. I have these really amazing pieces that I can hand down to my granddaughters and my grandchildren one day, so that’s fun. And then, I think my next most special thing in my closet would be my stuffed monkey Annabelle that my mom gave me when I was seven years old and I was in the hospital.
Kim says in the teaser trailer [of KUWTK] that “everything has changed” heading into this season. Tell me more about that.
Your family and your kids are always changing and evolving and that’s a good thing. Sometimes we all communicate in different ways, and finally, when we can figure out how to communicate with one another, it’s a breakthrough. What happens on the show and how it all starts out — I’ve seen it and it was hard for me to watch because I wasn’t there for some of the moments — is hard to watch. I can’t even repeat it. You’ll just have to tune in.
I know you just got back from Monaco. Any other summer trips planned?
Yea, I’m excited to go have a little small vacation so you’ll just have to watch my Instagram.
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