It was the tweet that launched a thousand think pieces. Back in late 2014, when the digital world felt slightly less chaotic than it does now, a single image of a woman’s backside slicked in baby oil managed to—allegedly—break the internet. Honestly, you probably remember where you were when the Paper magazine cover Kim Kardashian shoot first hit your feed. It was everywhere.
The mandate was simple: #BreakTheInternet.
But behind that cheeky hashtag and the glossy sheen of the champagne-spraying photos lies a much weirder, more calculated, and culturally messy story than most people realize. It wasn’t just a random nude shoot. It was a collision of old-school high-art photography and new-age social media dominance that changed how we view celebrity "moments."
The "Champagne Incident" You Didn't Know Was a Remake
Most people see the photo of Kim balancing a champagne glass on her rear and think it’s just a clever trick. It’s actually a recreation.
The man behind the lens was Jean-Paul Goude, a legendary French photographer known for his "playful" (and often controversial) approach to the human form. He didn't just come up with this idea for Kim. He was revisiting his own past. Specifically, he was recreating his 1976 work titled "Carolina Beaumont," often called the "Champagne Incident."
The original featured a Black model in the exact same pose.
📖 Related: Judge Dana and Keith Cutler: What Most People Get Wrong About TV’s Favorite Legal Couple
When Kim met Goude during Paris Fashion Week in September 2014, they apparently hit it off so well that they decided to go way beyond the initial plan. What was supposed to be one cover turned into an entire spread of full-frontal and back-view nudity. It was spontaneous. Or at least as spontaneous as anything involving a Kardashian can be.
Why Kim Did It for Zero Dollars
Here is the kicker that usually surprises people: Kim Kardashian didn't get paid a single cent for the Paper magazine cover. Seriously. Bupkis.
At the time, Paper was a relatively small-circulation indie magazine based in New York. They didn't have the budget to pay Kim’s market rate, which even then was astronomical. So why did the most famous woman on earth get naked for free?
- The Art Factor: She reportedly just wanted to work with Jean-Paul Goude.
- The "Body Confidence" Play: She had recently had her first child, North, and wanted to prove she "still had it."
- The Brand: She knew the value of the "moment" was worth more than a paycheck.
She was right. On November 13, 2014, the day after the full spread dropped, Paper magazine’s website accounted for nearly 1% of all web traffic in the United States. That is an insane statistic. Their servers nearly melted, and the "indie" mag was suddenly a household name.
The Darker Side: Why It Wasn't Just "Fun"
We have to talk about the controversy. It wasn't just people being prudish about skin.
👉 See also: The Billy Bob Tattoo: What Angelina Jolie Taught Us About Inking Your Ex
A lot of critics and scholars pointed out that Goude’s work has a history of fetishizing Black bodies. By having Kim—a woman who has often been accused of "Blackfishing" or appropriating Black aesthetics—recreate an image originally featuring a Black woman, the shoot touched a very raw nerve.
Some compared the imagery to the "Hottentot Venus" (Saartjie Baartman), a South African woman who was exploited and exhibited in 19th-century Europe because of her body shape.
The magazine called it art. Critics called it a "Columbused" version of Black female exploitation. Kim herself remained mostly Zen about it. In the accompanying interview with Amanda Fortini, she came across as surprisingly calm, even as the world was screaming about her.
Weird Details from the Set
If you read the actual profile in that issue, there are some truly bizarre nuggets that the photos overshadowed.
- The Selfie Archive: Kim admitted she has a photographic memory for her own photos. She can look at any of the thousands of selfies on her phone and tell you exactly what she was wearing, who she was with, and what the weather was like.
- The Apocalypse: She told the interviewer that her friends think she’d be the calmest person if the world were ending.
- Sweetener Habit: At one point during the interview, she was seen biting granules of Equal sweetener off her manicured nails. Just a tiny, humanizing, and slightly weird detail.
Did It Actually Break the Internet?
Technically? No. The internet stayed up.
✨ Don't miss: Birth Date of Pope Francis: Why Dec 17 Still Matters for the Church
But culturally? Absolutely.
Before this cover, there was still a slight divide between "serious" art and "reality TV" fame. This shoot bridged that gap in a way that felt aggressive. It proved that you didn't need a movie to promote or an album to drop to dominate the global conversation for two weeks straight.
What You Can Take Away From the "Paper" Era
If you're looking at this from a branding or cultural perspective, the Paper shoot taught us a few things:
- Calculated Risk Wins: Doing something for "free" can sometimes yield a 10x return in brand equity.
- Provocation is a Tool: Being polarizing isn't a side effect; for the Kardashians, it's the engine.
- Context Matters: You can’t recreate 1970s "edgy" art in the 2010s (or 2020s) without people questioning the racial and social implications of those images.
The Paper magazine cover Kim Kardashian moment was the peak of the "famous for being famous" era. It was a performance. It was a troll. It was a masterpiece of marketing.
To really understand the impact, you have to look past the oil and the champagne. Look at how it forced every major news outlet—from The Guardian to Time—to write about a woman’s body as if it were a geopolitical event. That is the real power she held then, and arguably, still holds now.
If you're ever curious about the longevity of digital fame, just look at how often this shoot is still referenced in 2026. It’s the blueprint for the modern viral "stunt."
Your Next Steps:
- Research the Photographer: Check out Jean-Paul Goude's work with Grace Jones to see where his style actually started; it puts the Kim shoot in a totally different light.
- Analyze the Strategy: If you're a creator, look at the timing of this release—it wasn't an accident that it dropped right when people were starting to get "Kardashian fatigue." It's a lesson in the "re-peak."