Unless you live under a rock, you have heard about the public outrage over Kim Kardashian and Kanye West cover debut on Vogue. Anne Wintour has publicly stated, “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. The gossip might make better reading, but the simple fact of the matter is that it isn’t true.”
We all know, Anne Wintour is a shrewd business woman and the Kardashian/Kanye cover was strategically all about business. After all, the couples' combined social media power is around 30 million where as Vogue's number hits around 3.6 million. Wintour, is more than aware Kardashian is not a fit for the brands label, but in many ways, sold her fashion soul, in pursuit to sell more magazines.
3 Reasons Anne Wintour should have thought twice about KIMYE cover.
1.)The backlash
The public is outraged. Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar led the charge with a tweet that read “Well……I guess I’m canceling my Vogue subscription. Who is with me???” Gellar’s call for a boycott has been retweeted over 8,000 times and favorited by more than 11,000 people. Vogue’s Facebook page has been flooded with angry messages and cries of disappointment. One comment reading, “I’m done with Vogue. Subscription cancelled sick to death of Kanye and Kim used to be high fashion, your standards have been highly compromised!!!!!!”
2.)Vogue As a Brand
Vogue is perhaps one of the few if not the only fashion magazines left, that represent high fashion as an art form. With genius photographer Annie Leibovitz as their right hand, month after month, the readers of this esteemed magazine have been left awed by the beautiful creations on the pages of Vogue. The keyword is ART, and Vogue has been respected for their taste, choices, and expression of fashion as a brand of quality.
The placement of Kim on the cover cheapens their principles simply because she is an icon for "popularity". She has been documented on her own reality show, letting her now fiance, Kanye, completely remodel her image. He basically dresses her like a doll, and directs her entire wardrobe, buying her new ones that he believes suitable. Yes, they represent current pop culture, but whether it is a "positive" representation, I would have to plead the 5 th. The day fashion is lead and inspired by whoever has the most twitter followers is a sad and funny day indeed.
3. The death of Vogue?
Of course, despite all the outrage, this will not be the end of Vogue, nor Anne Wintour. In fact, it might have even boosted their sales. The fear lies, in the direction Wintour plans on taking this magazine.
Wintour wrote, "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. I think we can all agree on the fact that that role is currently being played by Kim and Kanye to a T."
Although, Wintour writes beautifully, it is basically applauding what is popular, simply for being popular. If she honestly believes Kardashian and Kanye define our culture at the given moment, and are the biggest influencers of our time, we are seriously a pathetic species.
For the sake of fashion, it is my hope Anne Wintour regains her Fashion Soul and remembers the esteem and respect attached to VOGUE.
There will always come a point, where you will be tempted to gain power and numbers but, none of that should ever outweigh the value of ART and the need for it in our society.
Why we love VOGUE:
