TikTok star Kylan Darnell’s luxury Christmas haul went viral over speculation that many of the designer presents were actually dupes.
“I don’t know what to say because I don’t really owe y’all an explanation,” Darnell, 20, said in a Friday, December 27, TikTok video. “Some of my stuff that’s designer is real and some of my stuff is fake. I thought that was, like, an everybody thing.”
She added, “I know people that I go to college with [and] their parents have way more money than I could ever dream of having [and they] have real and have fake. I didn’t know that would be that big of an issue.”
After Christmas on Wednesday, December 25, Darnell and sister Izzy posted individual videos of the luxury holiday presents they received from their parents. The videos, which have since been deleted from TikTok, featured the sisters marveling over handbags and shoes from Chanel, Dior and more famous luxury brands. (Darnell initially rose to fame as one of “Bama Rush” hopefuls going through 2022 sorority recruitment at the University of Alabama.)
Social media users flooded both of the influencers’ comment sections, claiming that most of the items weren’t actually name-brand as advertised.
“I have real and I have fake. I didn’t know that this was going to blow up the world,” Darnell said on Friday. “My mom [gave] us some real things and some fake things. I thought that was normal. I didn’t mean to offend anyone, but whenever my mom hands me Christmas presents, I was raised to be grateful for whatever I got.”
@kylan_darnell Please watch this whole video
♬ original sound – Kylan Darnell
According to Darnell, she would never ask “for the card showing it’s authentic.”
“I would never do that to somebody. I would be like, ‘Oh, thank you. I love it.’ And I would still wear it,” she stressed. “I’ve seen so many people that are uber-rich be like, ‘I don’t care if it’s real or fake. Like, who cares?’ That’s why I didn’t think it would be a problem to post it.”
Darnell — who further noted that she didn’t even “think to ask” about each gift’s authenticity — also clapped back at the “far-fetched” rumors about her family and their financial situation.
“I’m just gonna keep being positive and ignore it because the more hate I get, the more money I make,” she quipped. “Actually, keep hating because maybe next time, you’ll buy my next Gucci bag!”
Darnell and her sister reposted their holiday haul on Saturday, December 28 and “shared receipts” from each purchase.
“We have to show the tags otherwise you guys will clock us,” Darnell quipped, holding up a Louis Vuitton handbag purchased secondhand from Forward, a resale website for luxury goods.
