Somewhere around the beginning of their relationship, back in 2012, Kanye West raided Kim Kardashian’s closet. It wasn’t, as far as we know, to borrow some article of clothing—but rather to begin a long process of a Komplete Kim Makeover. The effects were immediate: Kardashian, once bedecked in bright, jewel-encrusted body-con dresses, became more muted. Her ensembles under Kanye’s tutelage are a sea of monochrome blacks and whites—with a rare red thrown in. “I dress for my man way more than for myself!” she recently told Us Weekly. She became a devotee of menswear, swapping cocktail dresses for tuxedos and slicking her hair back into a chignon instead of her signature curls. And pregnancy has only made Kim’s newfound sense of style more pronounced. Now she’s a walking billboard for Kanye’s high-fashion fantasy—or, as we’ve noticed, a spitting image of Marina Abramović. Like the Serbian performance artist, Kim now wears almost no makeup, favors minimalism, and sticks to black and white. See our side-by-side comparison.
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Abramović, at left with James Franco at the Met gala last year; Kardashian walking into the Late Show With David Letterman in an almost identical ensemble.
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Kim wore skinny leather pants with her signature Christian Louboutin heels; Abramović paired hers with open-toe sandals.
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Kardashian, the yin to Kanye’s yang at the Givenchy show earlier this month; Abramović in head-to-toe black at a MoMA screening last May.
Marina, with Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci; Kardashian in an airport.
Kim wore a tight red dress at the Dorchester hotel in London. Abramović opted for the same color during her exhibition The Artist Is Present at MoMA in 2010.
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Abramović wore a white suit for her 2002 exhibition The House With the Ocean View at the Sean Kelly Gallery in SoHo, where she lived in her installation for two weeks—while Kim opted for a cream get-up for the launch of her DuJour issue at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills on March 2.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty (L), Frazer Harrison/Getty (R)
