Kim Kardashian on how the fashion industry finally accepted her
From reality TV star to front row at fashion week. Kim Kardashian opens up about how she managed to win over the fashion world.
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Your support makes all the difference.As Paris Fashion Week gets underway today, one presence is pretty much guaranteed on the front rows; Kim Kardashian. Although she hasn't always been welcomed by the fashion industry, an issue she reflects on in a new interview with CNN Style.
"I mean back in the day I thought I had the best style. I look back at outfits and I'm like mortified."
She may have started life as a personal shopper/stylist to it-girls Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan but fast forward a decade and she has graced the covers of numerous editions of Vogue as well as respected fashion magazines Love and CR Fashion Book.
She's starred in ad campaigns for the likes of Balmain and attended the fashion world's version of the Oscars - the MET gala dressed by the world's best designers. So to what does she owe her new found high-fashion status? Her husband Kanye West.
“I really think my relationship with my husband changed everything” she explains.
"Kanye sees what’s out there on the streets and just knows how to translate that to something that would look good on me, just helping me to push my limits a little bit and trying new things.”
He also helped Kim make the right connections, introducing her to the fashion world's key figures including former editor-in-chief of French Vogue, Carine Roitfeld:
“I remember one day he [West] brought me Carine Roitfeld’s book and was like you should be studying this book this is like the fashion bible and I was like ‘who’s Carine’ I knew nothing, and he said watch, one day she’s going to style you.”
Roitfeld later became one of the first editors to put her on the cover of a magazine.
There is one particular designer that she is grateful to; Riccardo Tisci who heads up Givenchy and after dressing her numerous times including for her wedding to West, is now a close personal friend of the star.
“Fashion people were like 'how can you invite Kim to your show.’ And that is the same people after few years that will pay her gold and diamonds to attend her show, or they pretended to be her friends today.” Tisci explained.
“Riccardo is the first designer that took a chance on me, I’m so grateful that he saw a vision and was willing to dress me because no other designers were at that time” Kim says.
She also reflects on the changing mood in the industry which is seeing a gradual acceptance of a more diverse range of body shapes, Kim herself is famous for her curves - not a shape traditionally embraced by the industry:
“My model type is not your typical model body type. It’s exciting that I feel designers are seeing different body shapes and styles and willing to take that risk” she says.
Visit cnn.com to see the full interview.
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