Kim Kardashian reworks the little black dress with a sculptural hip peplum

The little black dress is womenswear's most reliable workhorse, usually playing the quiet canvas for louder accessories. But Kim Kardashian just proved it can carry an outfit entirely on its own.

Kardashian stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! in Los Angeles wearing a sculptural black maxi dress. The body-skimming scoop neck looked like something out of her own Skims line, save for one dramatic detail: a structural, upturned peplum jutting out from her hips. She kept everything else spare — just a pair of strappy black sandals — so the razor-thin peplum got undivided attention.

It's a signature move from the Kardashian playbook: a simple, body-conscious piece with exactly one unusual element. And it fits neatly into her recent streak of "WAG style," as Vogue puts it. At the start of Paris Fashion Week last month she wore a white Ludovic de Saint Sernin dress with a knotted halter neck for a meeting with Christian Louboutin. At the Monaco Grand Prix she hit the paddock in a draped ecru dress with asymmetrical sleeves, and at the Singapore Grand Prix last week she chose a pink semi-sheer Alaïa number.

The throughline is clear: sleek, second-skin silhouettes that still manage a point of intrigue. With the LBD, that intrigue lives entirely in whatever protrudes, knots, or drapes — no statement jewelry required.