Keeping Up with the Kardashians: Khloé brings clothing line to Dubai

Rebecca McLaughlin-Duane chats to Khloé Kardashian about fashion and her role in one of the world’s most gossiped-about celebrity families.

10th: Reality TV star Khloé Kardashian gave birth in April. AP

The E! reality TV series Keeping Up with the Kardashians would have you believe that you know everything about the famous family. Think again.

“What you don’t know is that I am a phenomenal rapper,” says Khloé Kardashian Odom, during a pit-stop in Dubai on Sunday.

“I’m going to drop a single in the next year and feel I should release an album soon,” she adds, then giggles.

The 29-year-old Kardashian, the third of four siblings and two half-sisters, is known in the TV show for being the outspoken one. As she conducted interviews in the UAE to promote their fashion line, Kardashian Kollection for Lipsy, she didn’t disappoint.

“Keep the curves,” Kardashian says of the clothing range that she and her sisters Kourtney and Kim have designed for the label.

“We embrace a woman’s body and we don’t lose ourselves in this collection. We’re really glam girls and we got to add sparkle and lace to things — it’s a romantic holiday collection.”

Available at Lipsy and ICONIC stores in the UAE and the wider region, the Kardashian Kollection consists of trend-driven pieces – from sequinned biker jackets to lace-overlay jumpsuits and faux-leather shift dresses.

The Middle East, says Kardashian, was an obvious market to tap.

“I love that everyone here seems to like a little bit of sparkle.” she says. “There has to be just a touch of glitz and glamour somewhere and that’s what we, my sisters and I, embody, too.”

Sister act

This isn’t the first time that Khloé, Kim and Kourtney have stood united in spiked heels at fashion’s front line.

The three launched a boutique called DASH in California seven years ago before expanding to Florida and New York. Retail deals soon followed and, in 2010, the sisters rolled out the K-Dash label for the shopping network QVC.

The year after, the Kardashian Kollection debuted in the US, before expanding to the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. From ready-to-wear, accessories and home fashion to prescription eyewear and swimwear – over the years, no stylish stone has been left unturned.

Savvy style

The man who has secured the sisters’ lucrative deals of late is the Kardashian Kollection’s chief designer and the president of Jupi Corporation, Bruno Schiavi.

“We launched 18 months ago and we’re already in 18 countries,” he says. “The collection in the UK launched on October 24 and was sold out within 28 hours.

“What many people don’t see is that the girls are very savvy when it comes to fabric and construction. They’ve been designers in their own right for years, and they’re involved in every aspect: from hem lengths to buttons to weekly six-hour-long fittings, the marketing – all of it.”

Majority rules

Spending so much time with the siblings, Schiavi has witnessed their inevitable creative differences from time to time.

“I don’t think anyone could play referee with us three,” says Kardashian.

“There’s definitely still bickering, because we’re sisters. But we have a rule of two-against-one, which works. If two of us like something, then the third one is overruled.”

Discussion of Khloé’s reported marital woes with her husband of four years, the NBA basketball player Lamar Odom, was strictly off-limits during her trip. It was instead her sister Kim’s fiancé – the music superstar Kanye West – who cropped up in conversation.

“I haven’t told him yet [about the rap single] and I think I should let him produce it. But I’m not going to compete with him,” Kardashian says. “He’ll just make me ­better.”

• The Kardashian Kollection features items priced from Dh170 to Dh845 and is available at Lipsy stores and ICONIC outlets in the UAE