Kim Kardashian Slammed for ‘Disgusting and Shameful’ Fashion Choice

Kim Kardashian is known for her bizarre fashion experiments, like her infamous “merkin” underwear. However, her newest handbag was a step too far for many and drew ire from furious social media users, including model Ireland Baldwin.

Luxury resale site Randolph Goods posted an Instagram video on November 20 that showed Kardashian, 45, posing with a gray Birkin bag. The caption provided a backstory, stating that Hermès “briefly experimented with elephant leather decades ago,” supposedly after a “wealthy VIP went on safari” and had Hermès craft bags from the resulting hide. “Given the material and origin story,” the caption reads, “it remains an extremely controversial chapter in Hermès history.”

People were shocked in the post’s comments section. “This is deeply disgusting and disturbing,” reads the top comment, written by fashion editor and celebrity stylist Gabriella Karefa-Johnson. Another commenter asked, “Have you no shame?” presumably directed at Kardashian, while another wrote, “Elephants are magical, majestic, and special beings & they are to be respected!”

One of the most notable comments came from actress and model Ireland Baldwin, the 30-year-old daughter of actors Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger. “This is… Beyond,” she commented beneath the post. Baldwin reposted the video to her Instagram and wrote, “This is so disgusting and shameful. I don’t understand how these people are supported the way they are.”

According to the World Wildlife Fund, a leading organization that advocates for animal and environmental conservation, 20,000 elephants are killed annually, usually for their ivory tusks. (Ivory is still sold internationally despite a 1989 ban on its commercial trade.) There are three distinct species of elephants, all of which are classified as threatened, and a 2024 study found that African elephant populations dropped a devastating 77% from 1964 to 2016.

According to Kardashian’s TikTok, the bag was part of one of her looks in her much-maligned legal drama series, All’s Fair. The controversial bag was paired with a gray vintage Donna Karen dress and Hugo Boss heels. In the TikTok video, Kardashian, who brought her personal stylist Soki Mak to set, refers to the bag as a “really rare Birkin.”

Baldwin has long been vocal about her views on animal rights.

In 2018, Baldwin posed naked for PETA’s famous “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign. She told the nonprofit, “If you wouldn’t wear your dog, then you shouldn’t wear fur at all, because all animals are equal and deserve equal respect and equal compassion and love.” In an accompanying article, PETA called the model an “animal advocate,” noting that Ireland follows a vegan diet and shops cruelty-free.

Baldwin was not the first in her family to strip down for animal rights. Basinger, 71, had posed for the same PETA campaign in 1994, inspiring her to do the same.

Kardashian, on the other hand, has long been seen as the poster child of the “any press is good press” approach to fame, weathering scandal after scandal for nearly two decades. The elephant Birkin situation, it seems, fits the emerging theme of Kardashian’s Q4 2025 controversy calendar: fur.

In October, Kim was criticized for wearing multiple fur garments, including dresses with fur accents and bra-style blouses with fur stoles. And Kardashian’s fur-focused controversies aren’t even limited to actual animal skins. Earlier that month, the reality star and Skims founder launched a line of $32 thongs with built-in pubic hair, which sold out quickly.