What’s the only thing more famous than Kim Kardashian? Kim Kardashian’s derrière, of course. After that controversial Paper magazine cover, co-founder and editor Kim Hastreiter has confirmed: “Of course it was photoshopped!”
In an interview with DigiDay the editor of the New York-based publication said: “Do you really think that you can open a bottle and get it to spray in a thin line over someone’s head and land perfectly in a glass sitting on that same person’s bottom?”
But Hastreiter did nothing to confirm or deny claims that Kim Kardashian’s body had been tampered with to give her a tiny waist and arms, and a disproportionately large posterior. The images, which come with the single coverline Break The Internet, Kim Kardashian seem to be doing exactly what they set out to do.
Hosts of people, including celebrities and fans, have come out to criticise Kim over the seemingly misleading images. One woman tweeted: “That Kim Kardashian image was done by a photographer who has been manipulating images in an actual Photoshop before Adobe existed.” – @iamcaroline. While another user said: “Calling Kim Kardashian a new standard for beauty is like calling Photoshop a new standard for honesty.” – @RobertLincoln10.
And they’re not the only ones. Cheryl Fernandez-Versini (nee Cole) is said to have screwed up her face when The Sun asked for her opinion on the images. “I don’t think it’s real,” she told the paper. “I’ll refrain from judgment because each to their own. But I would never do it. I could never. I could never. I could never.”
When there’s something to be said about women these days, Tina Fey quite often says it best. Although this passage that she wrote in per book Bossypants pre-dates Paper magazine’s shoot, people are quoting it in their thousands to express their feelings towards this perpetuation of the unattainable female ideal.
“Now every girl is expected to have Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall ass, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of Michelle Obama, and doll breasts,” she wrote. “The person closest to actually achieving this look is Kim Kardashian, who, as we know, was made by Russian scientists to sabotage our athletes.”
Some have even done their own detective work. A journalist for the Mail On Sunday, Rachel Johnson, compared the cover with a photograph she took of Kim a couple of months previous, concluding: “In mine, she is sort of in proportion, but in the mag shoot, she has an unfeasibly tiny Victorian waist and massive behind and breasts.” She also points out that two digital assistants were credited for the shoot.
While the reaction to the images is mostly negative, it seems that this is exactly what Paper magazine were looking for. When asked about all the backlash Hastreiter simply said: “I have not laughed so hard in so long. This is so much fun. Andy Warhol would have loved this.”
What’s our favourite response to the Kim Kardahsian Paper cover? This one from Met Museum – very clever. 
