Nicki Minaj opened up about her latest collaboration, a new fashion line with Kmart and ShopYourWay.com. The 30-year-old announced the venture last month, which will expand into a full-fledged lifestyle imprint, and went into further detail during a promotional event in Beverly Hills, Calif. Friday afternoon.
Minaj held an intimate press conference and tells Hip-Hop Wired that aligning with Kmart was an obvious choice. “They really connect with middle America,” she says. “I feel like I haven’t really been exposed to that side of the country yet. Because what I do in Hip-Hop culture it kind of is for a specific person.”
Having started in Hip-Hop, over the last few years, the self-proclaimed Barbie has transitioned herself into cross-genre stardom, and sees the forthcoming fashion line as her latest step in widening her audience. “I wanted to branch out,” she continued. “I feel like fashion is something that represents everyone. It doesn’t matter what you do in your life, as a woman, you want to feel beautiful. You wanna’ feel like your jeans fit you in the right places. So I was like ‘You know what, I don’t want to limit the brand.’ I don’t want to make it too expensive, because who am I kidding, a lot of my fans are not going to go and buy a $2000 pair of shoes, especially not [in this] economy. Kmart is a trusted place, people already go there, they already have their clientele and so I [I thought] ‘If can just bring my brand over to there, I think my fans would be happy. ‘”
With so many celebrity lines popping up just about every day, making sure to meet the right price point was as important as the designs. In putting together the line, the Queens native made sure that consumers wouldn’t have to choose quality over affordability. “It’s going to be rich stuff, quality stuff. My big thing is that it cannot be cheesy and cheep. That’s what I want to give my beautiful Barbz.”
Minaj’s connection to her “Barbz” (and “Kenz”) is no joke. She boasts more than 15 million Twitter followers, and always maintains a close relationship with her supporters. This time around, she’s once again encouraging her fan base to give feedback on the clothing by visiting http://www.shopyourway.com/nicki, where she will post exclusive videos and footage to members on the site. “They’ll be seeing exclusive meetings, and phone calls and sketches, and before you know it the line will be here, and my Barbz will be giving me their opinions, their true feelings.”
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Photo: Hip-Hop Wired
