Kim K is on Vogue India’s March 2018 cover.
And that’s a problem for some.
We sent out a mail to Vogue India, seeking a response over the criticism that they are "perpetuating a detrimental culture of underrepresentation of brown women" by putting Kim K on their cover. Here’s what they had to say:
Besides, as Tanna says so well, “To ignore the phenomenon that is Kim Kardashian West is to ignore the zeitgeist of the times”.
Now, here’s the burning question of the day: Does this magazine cover really deserve to be the outrage of the day?
Also, Kim K here has been styled by Anaita Shroff Adajania, the Fashion Director of Vogue India and an ‘Indian’ woman. Many of the outfits she wears in the issue are also designed by Indian designers, including Shane and Falguni Peacock and Anita Dongre.
The world is getting smaller and more connected. We are consuming global celebrities in a big way now. Why, then, are we so insecure of our Indianness that we start to take offence every time we see a non-Indian on an Indian platform?
I mean, we can’t be promoting Patanjali-esque nationalism on magazine covers now.
Vogue India can internally take a call on it and do its part in revolutionising the standard of beauty, but let our bar for offence not be so low that it starts becoming more and more trivial.
Besides guys, Kim K is wearing a lehenga in the issue. Now we know whatever Kim K wears becomes a rage, so rejoice, for this could be the lehenga’s big moment!
(This article has been updated after it was first published to accommodate Vogue India’s responses)
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