Vogue Endorses Kim

Back in 2013, the only way Kim Kardashian could get into the Met Gala was as Kanye West’s plus-one. Anna Wintour had allegedly banned the reality star from attending the event as an invited guest. Now the tides have turned, and the Vogue boss has sided with Kardashian over West. The Skims mogul is the magazine’s latest cover star, and with a fawning profile to boot.

It is a masterclass in image control, and one can imagine Kris Jenner, gun to the Vogue writer’s head, mouthing the words as they appear on the screen. Kim Kardashian is a businesswoman, a doting mother, a future lawyer, and a generally really kind person. I’m sure most of that is true (I have always liked Kim), but it seems a bit unnecessary for this profile to bend over backwards to get us to be on Team Kim. Kanye is doing a pretty good job on her behalf already.

Take, for example, this anecdote:

A plate of tempura green beans is delivered to the Vervoordt-designed walnut table by her chef Gabe. Kim thanks him and asks how he’s feeling, as he’s just recovered from COVID. Better, but still tired, he replies, as she nods sympathetically. Throughout our time today, I find myself struck less by Kim’s obvious glamour than by her kindness.

Is it notably kind to ask your employee how they’re feeling in the wake of having a novel respiratory virus? I know we’re grading on the celebrity curve, but this feels like a low bar to clear. One can only hope she extended the same amount of kindness to the staff she flew to her private island 40th birthday party in October 2020.

Then, of course, there is Kardashian’s work within the legal system, which is actually so crazy of her to do because she lives in a fancy house:

Here within the monastic opulence of her home, amid white Royère sofas and a James Turrell installation bathing the long vaulted-ceiling hallway in pale light, it’s difficult to imagine that Kim might be just as comfortable inside the prisons where her advocacy work so often takes her.

What are we doing here? Yes, I’m aware that San Quentin and a Calabasas mansion could not be more different, but it’s an odd way to hammer home the fact that Kardashian’s heart is full of kindness. Look at this woman who cares about art and aesthetics, now what if I told you that she also associates with criminals?

When it comes to Kardashian’s body, which it always does, we must know that she has had struggles too. Despite the fact that there is an entire paragraph comparing her to Marilyn Monroe, Kardashian claims that she had never seen her body type represented growing up:

She remembers not seeing herself in any beauty icons growing up until Salma Hayek (and shortly thereafter, Jennifer Lopez) came along. That’s when a light bulb went off. “Okay, there’s other body shapes out there. There are other looks that people find beautiful,” she recalls thinking. “My reference for prom was Salma Hayek. I went to the MAC counter and brought pictures of her. It was like, I finally have someone to look up to.”

If I were Kardashian, and had spent years dodging claims of being a culture vulture, I don’t know that I would reveal the fact that I took a photo of a Mexican woman to the MAC counter. But hey, that’s just me.

As I said before, I have always been Team Kim. I didn’t need Vogue to remind me of every good thing she has ever done and will go on to do. I guess what I actually want is to hear all of the messy details of her life — the things that make her human instead of a perfect momma bear CEO — but we’ll probably have to wait for the Hulu show — premiering April 14 — for that.