The baby Kardashians have stepped out from under their older sisters' shadows to make a name for themselves, but the images they're projecting are quite contrasting.
19-year-old Kendall has taken the fashion world by storm, modeling for the most coveted runways at New York and Paris Fashion Weeks. She's collected quite the crop of friends while she has been at it, including Cara Delevingne and Selena Gomez. Every perfectly put-together move she makes inevitably sparks some sort of jealousy and inspires yet another person's fashion/career/friend/whatever goals.
Kylie, however, is a totally different story. If I came across Kylie Jenner's Instagram feed and didn't know any better, I would think that girl has 5 years on me, easily. The 17-year-old often looks older than Kendall, who usually dons a fresher face and simpler style. It seems as if Kylie, in an effort to keep up with the rest of the pack, has tried to grow up way too fast.
The teenaged reality star has caused quite the media frenzy in her efforts to appear like the rest of her famous sisters. She always sports a full face of makeup, which has altered her appearance so much that the media began speculating that the teen had plastic surgery on her lips. She also often wears red-carpet ensembles that I know would give my mother a heart attack if she ever saw them on me.
Most controversially, and also what has seemed to really cross the line, Kylie has reportedly been dating 25-year-old rap star Tyga for the past few months. The rapper is not only eight years her senior, but also has an ex-wife and a child. Kylie, according to California state laws, is still a child. Talk about being at totally different stages in life (and also being totally illegal).
Some will argue that love is love, that style is to each her own, or that even caring about what child reality stars are doing is a waste of time, but I can't help but let Kylie's dramatic change bother me. It's not about jealousy, but about being upset. I'm upset that her perfectly sculpted and filtered face is projected as an example to an overwhelming audience on the daily; personally, the teenager has over 18 million Instagram followers, and that's just the beginning. I am also upset that we have fostered such an environment that has propelled her to start living a life so far from other teenagers' realities, despite being part of a famous family or not.
Kylie is one of the most prominent examples in the media of younger girls, yet she is probably one of the worst ones. As of now, she's at the top of my list for which Kardashian desperately needs an intervention — yes, even in the midst of Kim's new bleached 'do, which is saying something. It worries me how many people she reaches and how many of those people may be looking at her and thinking, "That's what I need to look like, and what I need to act like." She's setting the bar even higher in world with already impossible enough standards to achieve. It's a step forward that tabloids are beginning to call out Kylie's questionable actions, but the conversation needs to be taken one step forward in order to remind her audience that the image she projects isn't necessarily one that they should strive to follow, too.
