Kylie Jenner may be a little too excited about the third season of “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
The beauty mogul, 21, celebrated best friend Anastasia “Stassie” Karanikolaou’s 22nd birthday with a weekend-long event that included pool parties, bottle service and a questionably-themed costume party, the latter of which quickly sparked backlash.
In now-deleted Instagram Story posts, Jenner showed off an elaborate “Handmaid’s Tale”-inspired setup at her house, complete with servers dressed as Marthas — unmarried, infertile women who work as domestic servants and nannies to high-ranking families. Jenner, Karanikolaou, Sofia Richie and other party guests dressed up in the red capes and white bonnets that the handmaids wear in the Hulu show to demonstrate their subservience.
It’s unclear whether Jenner was hosting a viewing party for the Season 3 premiere of the show (which aired last Wednesday), or if Stassie, like Jenner, is simply a fan and wanted to dress in cosplay for her birthday. Either way, fans quickly called out the reality star for making light of the serious topics the show explores, such as forced reproduction and misogyny.
“I honestly believe Kylie Jenner did NOT understand The Handmaids Tale if she’s throwing a themed party about it,” one person tweeted. Another said, “Kylie Jenner threw a ‘handmaids tale’ themed party because she loved the show? Then surely she would understand the depth of the subject and pick a different show without such a deep context. The ignorance and privilege JUMPED out.”
Asked a third critic, “But why is Kylie Jenner having a handmaids tale party… she does realize it’s about rape & oppression… right?”
While those protesting the recent wave of abortion bans have taken to wearing the costume as a symbol of resistance and a physical sign of oppression, some brands have attempted to capitalize on the series’ success by offering “sexy” handmaid outfits — something the cast and crew, including costume designer Natalie Bronfman, condemns.
“I thought, ‘What are they doing?! How can you make light of something like this?’” Bronfman told Page Six Style of people who wear the outfit in jest. “There’s truly nothing funny about it. Wanting to make the costumes a sexual thing is particularly shocking, given that these women are essentially raped so that they become pregnant.”
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