Backlash and rumours following Anna Wintour’s decision to feature polarising couple Kim Kardashian and Kanye West on the cover of Vogue has the editrix defending her choice.
The Annie Leibovitz-shot cover for the April 2014 issue features the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star, 33, and her rapper beau, 36, in wedding regalia and comes after months of contentious stories about her landing in the coveted pages of the fashion bible.
“Their Fashionable Life and Surreal Times #WORLDSMOSTTALKEDABOUTCOUPLE,” reads the headline on the magazine’s annual Shape issue.
Most talked about, indeed.
Reports swirled for months that Kardashian was persona non grata at the style tome, with some claiming that West had “begged” the 64-year-old fashionista to give the cover spot to his fiancee. The rapper even publicly railed against the publication for not tapping Kardashian sooner.
“There’s no way Kim Kardashian shouldn’t be on the cover of Vogue right now,” West told Ryan Seacrest in October 2013. “She’s like the most intriguing woman right now. She’s got Barbara Walters calling her like every day. And collectively, we’re the most influential with clothing.”
Love for Kanye
Radar Online reported that Wintour “loathed” Kardashian and her notorious reality TV clan, but happened to love the Grammy-winning rapper and fashion designer.
Soon after the cover debuted online, Wintour, who has edited the magazine since 1988, addressed the haters in an open letter.
“Part of the pleasure of editing Vogue, one that lies in a long tradition of this magazine, is being able to feature those who define the culture at any given moment, who stir things up, whose presence in the world shapes the way it looks and influences the way we see it,” she wrote (via TooFab). “I think we can all agree on the fact that that role is currently being played by Kim and Kanye to a T. (Or perhaps that should be to a K?)”
“As for the cover, my opinion is that it is both charming and touching, and it was, I should add, entirely our idea to do it; you may have read that Kanye begged me to put his fiancee on Vogue’s cover. He did nothing of the sort,” she added. “The gossip might make better reading, but the simple fact of the matter is that it isn’t true.
“There’s barely a strand of the modern media that the Kardashian Wests haven’t been able to master, and for good reason: Kanye is an amazing performer and cultural provocateur, while Kim, through her strength of character, has created a place for herself in the glare of the world’s spotlight, and it takes real guts to do that.”
But that doesn’t mean the cover is beloved by everyone.
The Crazy Ones star Sarah Michelle Gellar threatened to cancel her Vogue subscription. “I’m gonna pretend I didn’t see the cover of April 2014 issue of US Vogue,” tweeted fashion blogger and America’s Next Top Model correspondent Bryan Boy, later sharing a mock cover featuring Honey Boo-Boo’s mother, Mama June.
Others called out Kardashian’s reaction and her misspelling of the word “breathe” when she posted the cover on Instagram.
“This is such a dream come true!!! Thank you @VogueMagazine for this cover! O M GGGGGG!!! I can’t even breath!” Kardashian wrote.
