Has Anna Wintour tarnished Vogue's reputation?

Did Anna Wintour finally succumb to the 'begging' of 'Kimye' to be featured on Aprils cover of Vogue?

Not long ago there were reports that Kanye was begging Anna Wintour to feature his wife on the cover, a claim she has now disputed yet coincidentally a couple of months later both are featured on the front cover with Kim dressed in a Vera Wang wedding dress (what else).

There is no disputing the fact it is a beautiful cover with two people who seem ever so in love but is it what Vogue would call high fashion? For a start, Kim Kardashian is only famous for one reason. I don't need to get in to that but what is it about Kim that would make Anna, a woman who apparently despises the Kartrashians to give her a complete cover? I must remind you this is the woman who once said Kim was the 'worst thing since socks and sandals'.

A lot of people have their theories, was Anna paid? Is Kanye doing Anna a favour in return? Whatever the reason it's done. Anna has gone back on her word and clearly felt the need to justify it with a recent statement on her website:

'Part of the pleasure of editing Vogue, one that lies in a long tradition of this magazine, is being able to feature those who define the culture at any given moment, who stir things up, whose presence in the world shapes the way it looks and influences the way we see it. I think we can all agree on the fact that that role is currently being played by Kim and Kanye to a T. (Or perhaps that should be to a K?) 

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; you may have read that Kanye begged me to put his fiancée on Vogue’s cover. He did nothing of the sort. The gossip might make better reading, but the simple fact of the matter is that it isn’t true. 'There’s barely a strand of the modern media that the Kardashian Wests haven’t been able to master, and for good reason: Kanye is an amazing performer and cultural provocateur, while Kim, through her strength of character, has created a place for herself in the glare of the world’s spotlight, and it takes real guts to do that.'

A slightly backhanded compliment to Kim but is Anna sending the wrong message to her young readers? Shouldn't cover girls be people we look up to? People we aspire to be? Kim, someone who is famous for a promiscuous video tape, famous for her surgically enhanced assets, famous for a sham of a marriage on her reality TV show is now suddenly 'charming and touching'. I am being harsh, I cannot take away from the fact that Kim is stunning and so is her daughter North but Anna has taken a risk. A risk that has perhaps backfired already with Vogue's twitter account losing many followers and even subscribers cancelling their subscriptions.  The fact Anna has felt the need to justify her actions sends a clear message. 

I am personally not that fussed. Perhaps Vogue are trying to take a different angle with their readership and attempting to capture the youth of today who are obsessed with reality TV and their appearance. However, to me this is not Vogue. Vogue has always been a bible of fashion, a center of creativity and ingenuity and unfortunately I cannot associate Kim Kardashian or Kanye West with these words.  Yes they are relevant but are they relevant to Vogue's readership? I would have to say no.