On the heels of its recent launch with Kim Cattrall and Nelly Furtado, Kim Kardashian’s viral brand SKIMS has done it again. Today, the cult shapewear and clothing label dropped a new campaign starring Grammy winner Cardi B to celebrate the relaunch of its cotton collection.
The rapper spoke exclusively with ELLE.com ahead of the launch, sharing how she felt when the offer came across her desk. “The SKIMS team approached me about it, and I just thought it was funny because of all the money I’ve spent on SKIMS…I love SKIMS a lot.”
Cardi B in the cotton plunge bralette and cotton rib legging.
For the uninitiated, the cotton collection is one of the brand’s most customer-loved lines, and as of today, shoppers can browse an updated version with new waistbands, cuts, and colors. Of course, you can still get O.G. favorites like the cotton rib dress, bralette, or thong as modeled by Cardi B in the new images.
The rapper says that, in particular, she’s a fan of the brand’s fabrication for its ability to stretch yet hold its shape. “I’m a quality person; I’m a fabric person,” she says. “I really like the SKIMS material because it gives you a shape, but it doesn’t compress you.”
In case you were wondering, the “WAP” singer is partial to a specific item from the brand: the dresses. “I remember I bought, like, six SKIMS dresses at one time because they’re so comfortable, and you can wear them all day in the house, but if you really need to do a Target run, you could really go to Target in them,” she continued, adding that they make her feel sexy because—frankly—she just looks good in them. “In those dresses, I don’t be glammed up most of the time, but I just feel like, ‘Oh, God, I’m dragging this wagon all over this house. I can’t wait ‘til my man sees me.’”
Cardi B wears the cotton rib dress, her personal favorite.
Without a doubt, Kardashian and her sisters have continued to disprove the myth that motherhood in someway diminishes a woman’s desirability. We’re in an era of smoking hot moms—just take Emily Ratajkowski, Gigi Hadid, or Sophie Turner for example. As a mother of two, Cardi is doing the same. “Besides the fact that my body is a little bit more voluptuous now, I just feel like I have turned into a real woman,” Cardi says of how becoming a mother has changed her confidence. “I’m not a kid anymore—when it comes to my body, when it comes to my mentality, when it comes to how I move. Sometimes it’s crazy when I’m like, ‘Wow, I’m a mom.’ But I’m a cool mom. I’m a hot mom….You know that song that be like ‘Stacy’s mom / You got it going on.’? It’s like, wow, I’m really Stacy’s mom.”
Balancing comfort and quality with style and sex appeal, SKIMS is about having your cake and eating it too. I asked Cardi, who never shies away from own her sensuality, for her advice on feeling confident. How does she turn her mood around when she’s not feeling like her baddest self?
Cardi B in the cotton rib tank and cotton rib thong.
“Listen, you gotta love yourself because one thing I know from being on display for millions of people is that somebody is always going to find a flaw,” she tells me. “I have done lipo. I have worked out. And if I feel like I look my best, for some reason, somebody will always find a flaw. That goes to show that you cannot please anybody, you gotta please yourself….Like, nobody can convince me that I don’t look fucking good.”
Shop the full re-imagined cotton collection online at skims.com.
Associate Fashion Commerce Editor
Meg is the Associate Fashion Commerce Editor at ELLE.com where she researches trends, tests products, and looks for answers to all your burning questions. She also co-writes a monthly column, Same Same But Different. Meg has previously written for Cosmopolitan and Town & Country. Her passions include travel, buffalo sauce, and sustainability. She will never stop hoping for a One Direction reunion tour.