Featured Image Credit: @kimkardashian/Instagram
Topics: Kim Kardashian, Celebrity, Racism
Emily Brown
Kim Kardashian has come under fire for her Vogue cover photoshoot which was revealed this month.
The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star was announced as the focus of the upcoming March issue of the fashion magazine yesterday, February 9, when the new cover was revealed on Instagram.
Kardashian opens up about 'motherhood, divorce, criminal justice work and a crop of changes' in the issue, with her interview accompanied by a photoshoot of her showing off different outfits and accessories.
Alongside the image of the cover, a caption reads: '"My 40s are about being Team Me.” It’s @kimkardashian’s new world, and she’s chosen herself.'
Following the release of the images, social media users began to draw similarities between her pictures and past photographs of Black women such as Beyoncé, Nina Simone and Naomi Campbell. Fashion Instagram account Diet Prada highlighted the resemblances with a number of comparison shots, alongside the caption: 'Kim and Vogue said “Black History Month”'.
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One image shows Simone wearing dangling earrings with her hair pulled back from her face into a high bun, while Kardashian poses in a similar side-on image, also with dangling earrings and a high bun.
Another comparison showed Campbell on the cover of American Vogue in November 2021, for which she was pictured wearing a white dress which pinched in at the waist before spreading out over her hips. In the latest cover shoot, Kardashian can also been seen an a similarly-shaped white dress.
The series of comparisons has been liked by Campbell and has received thousands of other likes and comments, with one person writing: 'In the middle of Black History Month, they drop this on us. So *tired* of being told a Kardashian is “redefining beauty” when Black women have been setting beauty and style trends for decades.'
Another comment reads: 'When I saw the shoot I literally said “whew she wants to be a black woman so bad”'.
Meanwhile, other social media users argued that Kardashian had failed to credit Black women as inspirations for her image in the interview, in which she noted she had not seen herself in any beauty icons growing up until Salma Hayek and Jennifer Lopez rose to fame, prompting her to think 'there are other looks that people find beautiful'.
Kardashian has previously come under fire for cultural appropriation for plans to name her shapewear brand Kimono; the same name as the traditional Japanese garment. In the wake of the criticism, she announced she had renamed the brand SKIMS.
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