Little over twenty years ago, out of the murky depths of a Macon, Georgia arena, a man emerged on the sidelines of a televised sporting event, clad in denim, flicking a toothpick between his teeth, and with slick black hair and a tanned, rugged complexion, and in a gravelly half-Cuban accent he uttered the portentous words, ‘You know who I am. But you don’t know why I’m here’.
A couple of weeks later, he revealed his partner in crime, taller still and just as handsome. But beyond their good looks and roguish charms, their snarling tone, narrowed eyes, and curled lips indicated that they were up to something sinister: they were here to take over.
The men described themselves as ‘outsiders’, yet this was the birth of the New World Order, a totalitarian organisation which would stop at nothing to place others firmly under their control. Whether it was seizing command of the media and unleashing black-and-white propaganda in shaky spurts, or simply resorting to violence, spray paint, and underhand threats, their agenda soon dominated and their number grew.
Factions within the New World Order eventually brought about the organisation’s downfall. But now they are back, and bolder than ever before. They have transcended the narrow confines and even narrower headspace of the American Deep South, and now strut their stuff all out in the open, on metropolitan runways from Paris to Milan, London, and New York.
Their figurehead is Kendall Jenner, of the Kardashian-Jenner clan, who wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the organisation’s logo at a New York Fashion Week show by Michael Kors. The Kardashian-Jenners are no strangers to the dark arts. In a Season 12 episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, the acclaimed and ubiquitous reality series, Scott Disick noted how the Kardashian women seem to hold their men as if under a curse.
Limiting their resurgence thus far to the realm of international fashion, it remains to be seen whether under the auspices of Kendall Jenner, the new New World Order will ever reach Ralph level. One thing which is certain is that when you’re nWo – or for that matter a Kardashian-Jenner – it’s a role you take on well and truly ‘4 Life’.
