Back in the early summer of 2016, I was thrilled to land an invitation to what was undeniably the hottest party of the year: Vogue magazine’s centenary birthday bash.
A marquee had been erected in London’s Kensington Gardens, and it was packed with the fashion and showbusiness elite.
Among the guests attending a sumptuous dinner hosted by British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour were Demi Moore, Dame Joan Collins and Kate Moss.
As I propped up the bar, clutching a glass of champagne, I couldn’t believe my luck at finding myself among such an A-list crowd.
And my evening was about to get even glitzier, as Kanye West and his wife Kim Kardashian made their entrance to a backdrop of frenzied camera flashes.
While he was in trademark head-to-toe black, his wife wore a jaw-dropping, semi-sheer embroidered gown by Norwegian designer Peter Dundas. Then, to my astonishment, they headed in my direction.
Springing into action, I introduced myself and offered them both a glass of bubbly, which Kim gladly accepted. Charming and surprisingly erudite, she chatted for several minutes about politics and her love of London.
The encounter was only marred by the presence of West, who had not only declined my offer of champagne, but rudely refused to shake my proffered hand.
Kanye West and his then wife Kim Kardashian, in a jaw-dropping, semi-sheer embroidered gown by Norwegian designer Peter Dundas, at Vogue magazine’s centenary birthday bash in London in 2016
On the instructions of her husband, 30-year-old Bianca Censori dropped her black fur coat to the floor, revealing herself to be naked save for a layer of near invisible fabric, while on the red carpet at the Grammy awards last week
He glowered at me as I chatted to Kim until, his patience exhausted, he snapped at her to stop speaking to me, saying something along the lines of: ‘Why are you even talking to this guy?’
Apart from being incredibly ill-mannered, his intervention showed a troubling level of disrespect for his wife, suggesting that she could only speak to people with his approval.
This ugly incident came to my mind last week as I watched West once more barking orders, this time demanding second wife Bianca Censori effectively strip naked on the Grammy Awards red carpet in Los Angeles.
Given what I had witnessed eight years earlier, it seemed obvious to me that – just as with Kim – he felt able to publicly treat his wife as little more than an accessory to whom he could issue whatever instructions he chose.
What subsequently unfolded has, of course, made headlines around the world: hundreds of paparazzi photographs captured the moment that 30-year-old Censori dropped her black fur coat to the floor, revealing herself to be naked save for a layer of near invisible and totally see through fabric.
Lip reader Nicola Hocking later claimed that West had instructed her to ‘make a scene’.
‘I’ll say it’ll make so much sense,’ he added. ‘Drop it behind you and then turn, I got you.’ She duly did so.
It led to a global outcry and, while dismissed by some as nothing more than a publicity stunt, it nonetheless sparked a feverish debate over whether Censori is being coercively controlled by a husband who is, after all, 17 years her senior.
Only she knows the truth of that – but having witnessed West’s behaviour towards his first wife at the Vogue party, I’m in no doubt that West has little regard for the women who stand by his side.
How else to explain his surly, overbearing demeanour as Kim – in stark contrast to the airhead image that dogged her at the time – engaged with me in charming, even thoughtful, conversation!
At the time, the UK was preparing for the upcoming Brexit referendum and, with a cheeky smile, Kim told me: ‘You don’t want us Americans telling you what to do.’
And although she made one unfortunate slip up – admitting that she had not heard of the event’s host Samantha Cameron, wife of the then prime minister David – I was left with the overall impression that she was a woman who was a lot cleverer than people gave her credit for.
As we now know, their relationship would only last another five years. Since the couple filed for divorce in 2021, Kim has continued to blossom as a billionaire businesswomen courtesy of her global make-up and shape-wear brand.
West married Bianca Censori just nine months after finalising his divorce from Kim. An architecture graduate from a well-off Melbourne family, Bianca had begun modelling for Kanye’s shoe company Yeezy two years previously.
Since then, she has been pictured in public wearing ever more eye-popping outfits, most designed to reveal more than they conceal.
This parade of often unsavoury images has led to rumours that members of Bianca’s family fear for her safety, while others have claimed that she enjoys indulging her husband’s exhibitionist streak.
This latter take, however, was given the lie by West himself last week in a series of inflammatory tweets. The singer insisted, chillingly, that he had ‘dominion over my wife’.
At the Met Gala in New York in 2019, Kanye whispers in Kim’s ear while his hand is tightly clasped around her tiny waist
‘This ain’t no woke as feminist s**t,’ he ranted. ‘People say the red carpet look was her decision… I don’t make her do nothing she doesn’t want to, but she definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it without my approval.’
It is a deeply unpleasant message, particularly from someone who is the father of four young children, daughters North, ten, and Chicago, seven, and sons Saint, nine, and five-year-old Psalm.
One hopes they have been sheltered from West’s outbursts, but his ravings online will still be there when they grow up. It’s hardly empowering to learn that your dad believes that women should obey men.
Nor do you have to be Germaine Greer to see the wider damage that will be wrought by Kanye’s distasteful publicity stunt and his nasty comments.
Just like the vile misogynist Andrew Tate, West has many millions of impressionable young male followers, who will digest such misogyny and may conclude that it as a perfectly acceptable way to speak and behave around women.
Given this, is it any wonder that Kim Kardashian rarely lets her ex-husband see their children? While she is no angel, having first become famous thanks to a leaked sex tape back in 2007, she has matured, admitted her mistakes and escaped the controlling clutches of Kanye.
Censori would do well to watch and learn from her predecessor.
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