'She is beautiful!': French editor Carine Roitfield defends Kim Kardashian's jam-smeared pregnancy fashion shoot

PUBLISHED: 17:40 EST, 9 September 2013 | UPDATED: 17:40 EST, 9 September 2013

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Most people would agree that it's hard to look your best when your mouth is covered in raspberry jam - even when you have the beauty of Kim Kardashian.

And French magazine editor Carine Roitfield was forced to go on the defensive over the reality star's avant-garde shoot in this month's CR Fashion Book.

Because despite the magic of fashion icon Karl Lagerfield, not everyone was a fan of the experimental images.

'Precious moment': Kim Kardashian's face is smeared with jam in a Karl Lagerfeld-shot, Riccardo Tisci-styled shoot for the new issue of CR Fashion Book

Mother-to-be: The reality star, 32, who was expecting baby North at the time of the May shoot, is seen baring her seven-months-pregnant belly with pride

Kim, 32, was heavily pregnant with her daughter North at the time of the May shoot.

'I think people are very tough in fashion,' the former editor of French Vogue told the New York Post's Page Six.

'When we photographed her pregnant — I love pregnant women — she was beautiful.

'She was beautiful to cover; she is beautiful inside.'

Now that Kim has given birth, she said: 'I think she's happy now. She has her baby, North, and I hope this will be a good souvenir for her.'

Golden girl: Kardashian wears a grill on one of the two CR Fashion Book covers, staring down at the camera with her mouth ajar

Another image shows Kim in a black veil and a Yankees cap, while a further frame shows her baring her seven-months-pregnant belly with pride.

She also appears on one of two covers for the third edition of the magazine, which is themed around the idea of hope.

She wears a grill in the image - the latest celebrity to do so - staring down at the camera with her mouth ajar.

Carine told WWD that the image was a 'precious moment of Kim’s pregnancy that people haven’t seen.

All American girl: Kardashian pictured in a Yankees cap and veil with a U.S. flag sweater

The shoot took place at Lagerfeld's studio in Paris, and was art-directed by Givenchy creative director Riccardo Tisci - a good friend of Kardashian's boyfriend Kanye West.

It took place the night before the amfAR gala in Cannes, and the team finished up at around 2am.

'Karl likes to shoot in the evening,' Roitfeld explained. 'It was hard work. I’m a grandma. But I learned from Karl to never be tired.'

Mirror image: The reality star pictured with and without a heavily-embellished mask

Is that a bomber jacket? Kardashian's pregnant belly is all bundled up in the Tisci-directed shoot

It is not the first time the editor has focused on the idea of pregnancy in her biannual magazine.

For her inaugural issue, she featured a photograph of her daughter, Julia Restoin Roitfeld, while heavily pregnant.

'Pregnancy is something that I always love. It’s about hope and the future and a new baby,' she said.

But, she insists, her feature on Kim is a far cry from the weekly magazines that charted every stage of her pregnancy.

Heavily pregnant: Kardashian with boyfriend Kanye West at the Met Gala in May, around the time when the CR Fashion Book shoot would have taken place

Motherhood theme: Carine Roitfeld with daughter Julia Restoin Roitfeld at New York Fashion Week in February. For her first issue of CR Fashion Book, Carine featured an image of Julia while heavily pregnant

'This is not something for a gossip magazine that goes into the trash. This is a magazine that is a collector’s item,' she said.

The theme of the magazine, hope, was inspired by the baroque painter Caravaggio.

Now that Kim has given birth to North, mused, "I think she's happy now. She has her baby, North, and I hope this will be a good souvenir for her."

The new issue of CR Fashion Book hits newsstands on September 12