Think of the adage, 'You have to suffer to be beautiful,' and you might picture a pair of jeans that's a wee bit tight after a pizza or spike-heeled sandals that strain your arches something awfully. Kim Kardashian, however, related a rather more extreme scenario in a clip that's resurfaced from the latest series of The Kardashians.
Filmed on the night of last year's Met Gala, Kardashian is standing in the back of what appears be a moving vehicle, gripping its side presumably because she's unable to sit down in her dress, a corseted Margiela gown that has whittled her waist to an impossibly small circumference. 'I've never been in this much pain in my entire life,' she grimaces to one of her team, who asks if she can help take it off. 'Freddy, do you have a knife?' you can hear in the background. 'I'm going to die if you don't get this off me right now,' says Kardashian, who, lest you forget, is no stranger to corsetry (she famously took breathing lessons to be able to wear a boned dress by Thierry Mugler). As the silvery back falls open and what's underneath is revealed, someone in the background says, 'Oh my God, Kimberley.' They're not wrong to be aghast. Not only is her skin red and raw but it's been painfully indented by the contraption's fastenings.
The camera flips back to Kardashian, who's being interviewed about the incident for The Kardashians. 'Was it worth it?' the person behind the camera asks. Kardashian doesn't miss a beat: 'Abso-fucking-lutely.'
Entertainment Weekly posted the clip and the comments underneath are almost universally despairing, not only because of the message it sends to younger fans but also because she's not even wearing the corset properly. 'Please don't wear corsets over bare skin. This is technology that has existed for centuries and was created not just to cinch the waist but also to support the spine and chest. Even Victorians who tight laced wore silk or cotton chemises to protect their skin. Utter foolishness,' said one user.
A valid point but surely the bigger concern is the impossible beauty standards Kardashian, perhaps inadvertently, is setting for people watching at home, people who take 'abso-fucking-lutely' as gospel. 'If you look good, it is all worth it,' Kardashian says, which goes some way to explaining her philosophy on the subject. Instead of feeling good, the premium is on looking good, even if that means not being able to pee, sit down or inhale without feeling extreme claustrophobia. That kind of discomfort doesn't sound like a great night out by most people's standards. The Met Gala might be the fashion Oscars, but we're talking about basic human rights here.
The whole scene glamorises the fact that women - and it is usually women - do, in fact, have to suffer to be beautiful. A less extreme but no less pertinent example is the fact that no one wears a coat on the red carpet, even when the premiere is taking place in freezing temperatures (ahem, last weekend's BAFTAs). Your average man can at least shelter from the elements in a tuxedo, whereas most women are braving naked arms, bare shoulders and defenceless legs. It might be madness but it's completely the norm.
Most of us have at least one example of resigning ourselves to pain or discomfort in the name of beauty (the 'classic' is brides wearing not one, not two, but three pairs of Spanx). And Kardashian's normalisation of this kind of sacrifice only makes it seem more socially acceptable to wear clothes that run the risk of making you feel like you're 'going to die'.
Ultimately, Kardashian's back - seemingly bruised and badly gouged - should be called what it is: a fashion victim.
_Natalie Hammond is senior fashion news editor at Grazia. She previously worked at The Times - and has written for publications including The Telegraph, The Financial Times and gal-dem. She loves a ludicrously capacious bag (sorry, Tom!) and has never met a pair of clogs she wouldn’t wear. Find her on Instagram.
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