--- title: Kim Kardashian's "Selfish" Is Anything But description: The people who have helped build Kim Kardashian into an icon are celebrated as an us-ie canonical: https://time.com/3849456/kim-kardashians-selfish/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-07T14:11:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:07.210Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Kim Kardashian's 'Selfish' Is Anything But og:description: The people who have helped build Kim Kardashian into an icon are celebrated og:url: https://time.com/3849456/kim-kardashians-selfish/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1de4f233ac7e2d56/6987eeb7428a9ee975ccb47a/selfish.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: selfish og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kim Kardashian's 'Selfish' Is Anything But twitter:description: The people who have helped build Kim Kardashian into an icon are celebrated twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1de4f233ac7e2d56/6987eeb7428a9ee975ccb47a/selfish.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kim Kardashian's _Selfish_ Is Anything But by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley May 7, 2015 2:11 PM UTC  Rizzoli New York by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley May 7, 2015 2:11 PM UTC There is perhaps no trend more disparaged as a sign of millennial self-obsession than the selfie, and Kim Kardashian is the undisputed queen of selfie-taking. Yet her new book of annotated self-taken photos, titled [_Selfish_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0789329204/?tag=timecom-20) and out this week, feels almost like an ode to the people around her. Yes, there is healthy ego in Mrs. Kanye West’s glam shots. There are bikini selfies, bathroom selfies, selfies in the club, selfies in the car. But sometimes, other people wander into the shot. The people who are behind the scenes, in her her hotel room or her green room. The people who help make her look like the woman everyone’s scrambling to see. “I can look at any photo of myself and can tell who did my hair and makeup, where I was and who I was with,” Kardashian writes early on. Throughout the book, she proves it’s true: “I remember Stephen Moleski did my makeup and Clyde Haygood did my hair,” she writes next to that photo. “Old Hollywood glam vibes,” she writes next to another, “Mary Phillips did my makeup.” “We were done early one night, so Mario \[Dedivanovic\] gave me a makeup lesson…I secretly wish I was a makeup artist.” It’s not as though Kardashian thinks she’s pulling a fast one on all of us—to the contrary, in _Selfish_, she seems proud to show off the manufacturing of image, both of her own, and of the selfie as a phenomenon. The point of _Selfish_, as the title cheekily suggests, is Kim’s marveling at Kim. But in the age of styling, make-up and contouring, to show off her styled, made-up, contoured self is also to pay tribute to the stylists who make her look the way she does. The architecture of the Sistine Chapel may be exemplary, but it’s Michelangelo’s paint job that packs in the crowds. The book is effectively a portfolio for Kardashian’s legion hair and makeup artists, who can point to its pages’ chronological trajectory as proof that they were part of her transformation from Paris Hilton’s sidekick to one half of the #WorldsMostTalkedAboutCouple, half of whom really did #breaktheinternet. She’s right to give credit where credit is due; and she’s also probably right to end the book on a photo with her husband, who many believe has been her most effective stylist yet. Next time you see Kim post a perfectly made-up, cleavage-heavy photo, don’t ask why she’s so obsessed with herself—ask who’s making her look so good. ### See Kim Kardashian's Most Memorable Magazine Covers  Kardashian was photographed by the controversial photographer Terry Richardson for her Rolling Stone cover. In the issue she talks about Caitlyn Jenner, her marriage to Kanye West and her love for the Backstreet Boys. Terry Richardson—Rolling Stone  From the #worldsmosttalkedaboutcouple to the #worldsmosttalkedaboutbutt. Kim Kardashian already got national attention for being naked when a sex tape went public in 2007, but as the new cover of Paper magazine suggests, it's still her body — not her multi-million dollar iPhone game, not her TV show, not her marriage to Kanye West — that has the power to "break the Internet." Jean-Paul Goude—Paper  Kardashian called her first Vogue cover "a dream come true," while critics accused to magazine of chasing what was trendy rather than defining it. "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," Anna Wintour said in its defense. Annie Leibovitz—Vogue  Before Kanye and Kim posed for Vogue, they posed on the cover of the French magazine L'Officiel Hommes in 2013\. Is this just a strikingly suggestive pose or actual candid moment between now-spouses? Probably a little of both when it comes to this steamy photo shoot. Nick Knight—L'Officiel Hommes  In 2012, Kardashian graced the cover of V magazine — shot by Nick Knight, who also shot her L'Officiel Hommes cover — and defended her reality show empire in the magazine's pages by comparing it to rap music. "When rap music first came out, people were like, 'We don't understand this, what is this, it's just a fad.' But rap music is definitely here to stay, and I think reality shows have proven they are as well." Nick Knight—V Magazine  Channeling the typographic work of the iconic American artist Barbara Kruger, the cover of W magazine's November 2010 issue found Kim Kardashian (almost) bearing it all. Inside its pages, the only layer she had on was a thin coat of silver body paint. Mark Seliger—W Magazine  Kim Kardashian lands magazine covers because she's a familiar face, but that didn't matter to YRB. The magazine made her look near unrecognizable in a bob and dramatic makeup for a 2012 photo shoot that she later called "one of the most unique shoots \[she's\] ever done." YRB  Two of America's biggest style icons met in 2009 when Kim Kardashian dressed up like Barbie, who "guest edited" an issue of Australia's Kurv magazine. But it's no surprise the star would say yes to a magazine that starts with the letter K. Kurv  A 2009 shoot for Complex caused controversy when the magazine's website accidentally published an unretouched photo of Kim Kardashian. While it reignited the ongoing debate about beauty standards, Kardashian herself wasn't mad. "So what? I have a little cellulite," Kardashian later wrote on her website. "What curvy girl doesn't? How many people do you think are Photoshopped? It happens all the time!" Complex  Kim Kardashian was the most-clothed person on the cover of Prestige magazine's September 2010 issue when she posed with two naked men while looking like a sexed-up gladiator. "This might be one of my most risque covers to date!" she tweeted. Prestige  In 2012, Kim Kardashian covered New York magazine's fashion issue, which asked whether she had a place in the industry. Since then, she's only shown that the answer to that question is a resounding yes as she attended Paris Fashion Week and the Met Ball and landed that Vogue cover — a magazine that in the past has been not-so-open-minded about women with curvy figures like hers. 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