【2003 Archives】

When Joanna Gaines wore a choker003 ArchivesFixer Upper, I knew the transformation was complete.

You can buy a mug on Etsy for $15 imploring you, "In a world full of Kardashians, be a Joanna Gaines." But Kim and Jo's lives in Calabasas and Waco, respectively, have plenty of parallels. They've built empires and taken their families along for the ride.

So now, if you're so inclined, you can buy a similar wrap-around necklace from Magnolia Market to help you steal Jo's look.

Chip is her Kanye

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Joanna studied Communications at Baylor with the dream of becoming a television newscaster. In the meantime, she worked at the family business -- an auto shop -- and got a taste of the spotlight starring in commercials.

Her future husband, Chip Gaines, saw her in a family photo at the business and knew she was the one.

"Her dad made the mistake of putting a pic of the family behind the counter at his shop," Chip told PopSugar. "I knew I'd marry her one day just by the picture on the wall."

Like Gaines, West pursued his relationship for some time before successfully wooing his raven-haired beauty. Chip consistently invested in unnecessary automobile maintenance hoping to make an impression and Yeezy finally got a cell phone to persuade Kim to ditch Kris Humphries. Ah, love.

The first time Chip declared his love for Joanna, she responded with a courteous, "thank you."

Once their respective relationships finally took off, the dynamics continued to seem fairly similar, too, with Jo and Kim being the realists in the situation.

"[Chip] thrives with risk," Joanna told PopSugar. "I learned quickly to trust Chip's instincts on the buy and to be resourceful when it came to implementing the design so that we were smart with our investments."

Chip apparently wanted to be a politician at some point, too. #Yeezy2020, anyone?

They love buying and selling homes

Kimye purchased their first home together, an $11 million mansion in Bel Air, in 2013, but opted to spend years renovating the place instead of actually living in it and eventually put it on the market for $20 million. How very Chip and Jo!

Kim and Kanye used the $20 million to purchase a different mansion closer to Kris Jenner that they promptly began renovating to suit their tastes.

The couple also owns an apartment in New York City that Kanye West purchased prior to their marriage.

They love home decor

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...but they're not into color

Jo and Kim have both experimented with their style a lot over the years, but settled on a color palettes consisting almost entirely of neutral tones.

A source told Life & Styleof North West's bedroom, “The colors [of the nursery] are dark navies, blacks and whites. It’s not girly at all.”

So basically, all of Joanna Gaines' signature hues.

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They've turned their families into empires

In addition to Fixer Upper, Jo will have her own design-focused spinoff soon. KUWTK spawned Kourtney & Kim Take Miami, Kourtney & Kim Take New York, Khloe and Lamar,Dash Dolls and Life of Kylie, just to name a few.

But television is only a sliver of the Gaines' empire. They also own Magnolia Real Estate and Magnolia House, a vacation home they renovated on the show that is currently booked for the rest of 2017.

In Waco, they have their own version of the Kardashians' DASH stores -- The Silos. It's a one-stop destination for everything you need to be more like Joanna Gaines. There's a bakery featuring "Joanna's personal recipes." Browse The Market for Joanna-approved interior touches, apparel, and accessories from an in-house line. At Magnolia Seed Supply, you can buy everything you need to fix up your garden or fill your interiors with succulents, because that's pretty much the only form of color allowed. But you already know all of this if you watch Fixer Upper, because over the course of the series, the Gaines family has showed you just how their blood, sweat, tears, and shiplap brought everything to life. Synergy!

Joanna models Magnolia merch.

Kim models Kimoji merch.

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Chip and Jo ventured into publishing, too, with a book that is not quite as straightforward as Kardashian West's Selfish, but the same general idea. The Magnolia Storychronicles their lives and how Chip and Jo became people who can slap their names on just about anything to make it more valuable. If you're more of a magazine person, can they interest you in the quarterly Magnolia Journal?

Kim's detractors will certainly say that the difference between the two women is the same thing they always say about Kim -- she has no talent. But isn't convincing the masses to see value in something that, at first blush, seems pretty worthless the whole point?