Kim Kardashian has addressed her role in influencing the ever-changing standard of beauty, and why she doesn’t think it’s “fair” when someone’s appearance is compared to her own.
The Skims founder, 41, was asked about her influence, and how she feels when she sees people replicating her look, during an interview with Vogue for the magazine’s March cover.
However, according to Kardashian, there has not been an occasion where she has recognised her likeness in another person, nor does she think it’s “fair” for individuals who have similar features to be compared to her.
“I don’t know if I would ever say: ‘Oh my God, this person looks like me.’ I think if someone has dark hair and tan skin people are going to say: ‘Oh, that looks like Kim,’” Kardashian said. “And that’s not fair, because there are so many people who are just themselves.”
The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star then reflected on her own experience growing up largely without a beauty icon that she could identify with, as the outlet notes that she came to age in the “90s, era of the androgynous grunge waif”.
According to Kardashian, this changed with the arrival of stars such as Salma Hayek and Jennifer Lopez, with the KKW Beauty founder noting how, at that point, she came to the realisation: “Okay, there’s other body shapes out there. There are other looks that people find beautiful.”
“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,” she recalled.
While Kardashian’s, and her family’s, influence is undeniable, with Vogue pointing to one statistic that allegedly found 30 per cent of women visiting one plastic surgeon’s office in Beverly Hills asked to look like her, the former reality star said that it is important to consider both sides - the positive and negative.
Acknowledging that she and her sisters have been blamed for promoting “everything,” Kardashian said: “There’s definitely an influence, both positive and negative, on how a whole group of people view themselves because of social media. I can see that. I’m not blocked off to the idea that it exists.”
Kardashian, who shares four children: North, eight, Saint, six, Chicago, four, and Psalm, two, with estranged husband Kanye West, also said that, if she were to be concerned about something on social media that could negatively influence her children, she would handle it with a conversation.
“But I try to think, Okay, if I’m raising my kids, how would I react if I felt like there were things on TikTok or Instagram that I wouldn’t want them to see and be a part of? We would have those conversations,” she said.
Despite the family’s wide-ranging influence, Kardashian said that she tries not to concern herself too much with the effect she has on popular culture, as she noted that she focuses on herself and being happy for people, and that that allows her to block out any of the negativity.
“I just try to live my life and be happy for people,” she explained. “And I think when you just live your life like that, you block it out. It’s like a racehorse that puts on blinders so they can see clearly and straight. You’ve got to just be that racehorse, put on those blinders, and go. And if you start trying to see to the right or the left of you, you’re going to trip up.”
The Kardashians have been shaping the beauty standard since Keeping Up With The Kardashians first premiered in 2007, with Dr Anthony Youn, a holistic plastic surgeon based in Michigan, previously telling the Daily Beast there is “definitely a Kardashianization of the younger people, who are especially looking to make similar changes as to what the Kardashians have had done”.
“A lot of people, even if they don’t bring a picture of Kim Kardashian, they want that same look,” he said, adding: “There is that tendency of a lot of doctors trying to create that because that’s what the people want.”
However, while Dr Youn acknowledged that the Kardashians have been good for business, he said it is “disturbing” when “somebody who’s in their early twenties or even late teens” is undergoing plastic surgery to “try to make their face look like the Kardashian shape”.
“There’s so many aspects of beauty, there’s so many ways to be beautiful, and there isn’t one template for beauty. There are some ethnicities where that type of template, that type of appearance is just not possible. I think what is disturbing about it is, if people think that this is the only standard,” he added.
In addition to a rise in certain plastic surgery procedures, such as lip fillers and Brazilian butt lifts, which, despite the associated risks, increased by 252 per cent between the years 2000 and 2015, according to an estimate reported by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the Kardashians have also faced concerns over their influence in regards to the promotion of weight-loss products and pregnancy shapewear.
Elsewhere in the interview, Kardashian reflected on her role as a fashion icon, with the reality star acknowledging that it is now up to her, as she previously always had West, who “knew exactly what the next fashion era would be for me”.
