Kim Kardashian has been topped for the cover of Love magazine’s issue No. 13, as shot by Steven Klein and styled by Katie Grand. According to Kardashian’s Instagram, the upcoming issue will include an additional “30+” images. Because of her bleached eyebrows, the angle and the low lighting, many are describing her as unrecognizable on the cover. We like the idea of low-lighting, it’s unique for a cover and it’s done beautifully here. There is a bigger discussion at play and that is that Kardashian looks black in the image, which becomes an issue because Love has been called out for rarely featuring black models on its covers. One hopes it was simply an art-inspired decision, anything else is long past the point of tiresome.
Questions about motivations aside, following her massively discussed covers for Vogue and Paper in 2014, this nod from Love indicates that the establishment finally has come to accept, however reluctantly, Kardashian’s relevancy in the fashion world. Approval by Anna Wintour, the fact that she’s now married to a great musical talent, has an adorable baby, the attention she generates, her super model sister, all have combined to force open the gates for Kardashian whose entry may have been just as challenged by her very generous curves than the fact that she made her name on a reality show. Think about it, who in the fashion has garnered multiple fashion mag cover looks like Kim? None that we can think of.
Fashion accolades or not, it’s amazing to see how much Kardashian is still attacked on social media for being a ho, slut, etc. So yes, the world still has a long way to go when it comes to how we react to women showing themselves in public. What is said about Kardashian on social media isn’t a lot different than the messages conveyed in cat calling. Boiled down it’s that as a woman, no public space belongs to you and if you choose to show yourself, be prepared for the consequences. Since you are a woman, after all, you probably asked for it.
