It is 2006. Kim Kardashian is 25 years old, she has not yet starred in family reality, but she is already famous – primarily thanks to the sex scandal with her ex-boyfriend, rapper Ray Jay. Kim has a lot of free time, which she spends with her bosom friend Paris Hilton. They everywhere together: in the afternoon, pulling on a velvet Juicy Couture suit (at that time the object of passionate desire of almost every inhabitant of the planet aged from eight to infinity), go shopping, and at the night they dress up in dresses of a certain degree of frankness and go to sip cocktails to one of the private parties in Los Angeles. Did Kardashian think then that one day she would become a style icon? Hardly.
The year 2012. Keeping Up with the Kardashians celebrates its first 5th anniversary and breaks all popularity records. Kim Kardashian begins to officially date Kanye West (while still the wife of basketball player Chris Humphries: in fact, their family life lasted only 72 days, but the divorce proceedings dragged on), and her image is changing before our eyes.
“When our relationship with Kanye was starting, he once asked me if it was possible to take care of my wardrobe. I was open to change and answered: “Of course, dress me up!” – recalls Kim. – He invited me to the Lakers game, and while we were on a date, a whole team of stylists came to my house. In general, by our return, the cabinets were cleaned: in the hallway, there was a mountain of boxes of shoes almost to the ceiling, and they left only two pairs! I almost burst into tears. And then, to replace the old things, they began to bring bales of new clothes to me: Balmain, Maison Margiela – brands that I had never worn before. “Kim says that this story did not offend her in the least – on the contrary, she was happy with the result. Since then, Kanye has been her chief fashion advisor.
May 2013. Kim was eight months pregnant and goes to the Met Gala for the first time in her life. She does not have a personal invitation. But she goes into the status of Kanye’s companion and is worried. Dressing the “debutante” is entrusted to Riccardo Tisci (then the creative director of Givenchy). Maestro offers a choice of two floor-length dresses with gloves that completely hide the hands and a slit along the thigh: one black, the other with a bright floral print. Kim feels insecure – her stomach is big, and her legs are swollen – and, of course, chooses the black option. But then the editor-in-chief of American Vogue Anna Wintour intervenes in the game and insists on a dress in a flower. “So be it,” says Kardashian, “into a flower so into a flower.”
That image gave rise to many memes: the dress compared to the upholstery of a kitsch sofa and to the outfits of Mrs. Doubtfire (Robin Williams, who played this role in the film of the same name, retweeted one of the jokes, which added fuel to the fire), but all this does not matter. “During the ball, the Olsen sisters came up to me and expressed their admiration: they said how much they liked my gloves and my dress.
March 2014. Kim and Kanye became the heroes on the cover of the April issue of American Vogue. For many, it was a shock. An interracial couple first appeared on the front page of the most authoritative gloss in the world. Secondly, it is Kim Kardashian! Some kind of reality TV star, a successful person, but is this the level of Vogue? Some readers of the magazine began to publicly unsubscribe, but the editorial board, led by Anna Wintour, firmly endured all the attacks. According to Anna, it would be foolish to ignore the Kim and Kanye phenomenon. The Kardashians in a Lanvin wedding are elegant themselves. Two months after the magazine’s release, she and West will get married: Kim will be wearing a Givenchy lace dress, which Riccardo Tisci is still very proud of.
In January 2018, Kim became the face of the iconic Yeezy campaign. At first, everyone laughed at bicycles in combination with a down jacket, sweatpants with a coat, and other paradoxical sets, and after six months they began to wear the same thing. It was an essential stage for Kardashian: she officially became not only a star who quickly masters trends, but also the one who sets them.
The 2019 year. Kardashian launched her brand of modeling lingerie, Skims, for all body types and skin tones, a commercial symbol of the fight for diversification. And this year was also for Kim the year under the sign of Mugler. In February, she appeared at the Hollywood Beauty Awards in a very bold vintage dress from the brand.
In May of the same year, Kardashian became the main star of the Met Gala. The star appeared on the red carpet in a customized Mugler inspired by Sophia Loren in The Boy on the Dolphin (1957). It seems that at this time everyone finally understood: Kardashian is not just a reality TV star – she is an iconic heroine of her time, with whom the great couturiers are ready to work (with pleasure and respect).
