You know the over-the-top and bizarre Christmas card that the Kardashian family released a while ago? Well, new reports suggest that Kanye West was the one responsible for that abomination of a holiday card.
Apparently, Kanye wanted to go even more grand with the photographs, and he wanted to hire Annie Leibovitz and Martio Testino as the two photographers to do it. Um, delusional much? Annie and Mario are photographers who work with prestigious magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and Kanye wanted to hire them to shoot the Kardashian holiday card? Well, it’s not surprising that they turned it down, but apparently, that wasn’t the only issue Kanye had.
He also wanted a bigger budget to fulfill his vision, with a source claiming, “It turns out that Kanye was the puppet master behind the photo shoot, as he provided art direction, sketches, and costume and makeup ideas.”
The entire shoot ended up costing a mere $250,000, which E! ended up paying for because it tied into the show. And who was the poor photographer that ended up taking the gig? David LaChapelle. And boy, did he have a tough time of it. He and Kanye reportedly clashed on many different aspects of the shoot, with Kanye trying to take complete control. The source adds, “David was, at best, the third choice and one dictated more by budget than Kanye’s much-vaunted ‘vision.” Right, and he was the only one clearly willing to tarnish his reputation by working with the Kardashians.
In the end, it wasn’t so much of a masterpiece as it was a ridiculous, fake futuristic card that ended up being released to the public. And you know, considering how tacky it is, I don’t think anyone is at all surprised that Kanye’s vision was behind it. After all, this is the man who brought us the Bound 2 music video.