As Kim Kardashian turns 35 we chart her changing fashion look

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Kim Kardashian is thought of as a style icon by many
Social media star made part of her fortune from clothing and makeup
On her 35th birthday biographer Sean Smith explores her style
See our full coverage of news on Kim Kardashian

Published: 04:12 EST, 21 October 2015 | Updated: 08:13 EST, 21 October 2015

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Kim Kardashian was born beautiful. She knew she was because everybody kept telling her so, although, according to her family, she was never conceited about it.

At her eight grade graduation she is filmed dancing madly in a white blouse, perfect makeup and a short bob haircut. ‘When I’m famous and old,’ she told the camera, ‘You are going to remember me as this beautiful little girl.’

As a teenager, Kim was inspired by the cult film Clueless which by divine coincidence was released on the day of her 15th birthday, 21 October 1995. She loved the fashions worn by the movie’s lead character Cher Horovitz, played by the young actress Alicia Silverstone.

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At Cosmopolitan's 50th Birthday Celebration last week Kim carried on her monochrome maternity look in this black Lycra cleavage enhancing dress and long black blazer

Show off your killer curves in Wolford's Fatal dress

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Kim Kardashian has learnt what works for her burgeoning bump this second time round, and she’s sticking to her safe bets.

One go-to brand Kim relies on is Wolford, a quality fashion house that produces timeless and versatile basics. Take this black jersey dress, for example, which Kim has turned into a skirt for her liking so that she can wear a bodysuit with it too.

Perfect for minimalists who need more wardrobe space (not that Kim is one of them) this seamless tube dress can be worn as a skirt, top or an adjustable length dress, which makes this the most practical thing you’ll ever own. No wonder Kim has it in countless colors!

Wolford is known for its luxe lingerie and tights, but Kim is a fan of working her curves in their clothing range. And she’s not the only one, because we've also spotted Daisy Lowe wearing this this so-called Fatal dress, which is available to buy now at Shopbop (click right).

So why not try wearing yours as a pencil skirt by day at the office? But if you'd rather spend a little less, Asos and Missguided have got some bargain alternatives, including this maternity version by Mamalicious.

* PRICES MAY NOT BE AS ADVERTISED

...NOW ONE LIKE IT

Kim Kardashian's style has evolved dramatically since earlier years, when she worked as a stylist to the stars. Pictured at the Lanvin show at Paris Fashion Week in March 2015

It’s easy to see why Kim related so much to Cher. She too lived in a Beverly Hills mansion where her father was a rich litigator.

Kim’s father, Robert Kardashian, made his millions from business but he was also a lawyer who famously that year was part of the defence team for his close friend O.J. Simpson. Earlier that month O.J. had dramatically been found not guilty.

Cher Horovitz was very attractive, popular and wealthy. She appeared to be superficial but turned out to be quite smart – just like Kim at her upmarket catholic all girls school.

Kim was so struck by Cher that she adopted her look - or looks because Cher wore at least 15 outfits in the film.

The berets, the tartan, the see-through jackets and the knee socks have become so iconic that Cosmopolitan featured them to celebrate this year’s 20th anniversary of the film.

Kim explained, ‘I literally had at least ten of the outfits she had.’

In 2009 Kim styled her good friend Paris Hilton, whose fame was good training for later life in the spotlight. Pictured together at the Tao Lounge at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah in January 2009

The pair were often photographed by the paparazzi together in Los Angeles, right, and Sydney, left, in 2006. Kim looks virtually unrecognisable in a grey jumper dress and knee-high boots and an orange kimono frock

And just like Cher, she was very careful with her accessories. She would spend a lot of her free time in her room, indulging her passion for making jewellery using her collection of every conceivable size, shape and colour of bead to make the right necklace, earrings or bracelet to match her outfit.

She may have copied Cher but there was important distinction between Kim and Alicia Silverstone. They could not have looked more different.

Kim as a young teenager was the anti-blonde - petite, buxom, bottom heavy and had inherited the dark features of her Armenian heritage.

Alicia was a willowy blonde. It would have been more fitting if Kim’s childhood friend Paris Hilton had copied the Clueless look.

In the past Kim favoured a girly and glamorous look with feminine frill details, glitzy accessories and fur trims, pictured, left, at the Volkswagen Tiguan Party in Hollywood in November 2006 and, right, at the Dom Perignon Rose Vintage Champagne party in June 2006

By the time she appeared on Dancing With The Stars with partner Mark Ballas in 2008 her style was scrutinised when she appeared in public

Kim bore more resemblance to her other teenage heroine, Victoria Beckham, who in the mid nineties was better known as Posh Spice.

One friend confided: ‘Kim liked the idea of being posh and she thought Victoria was the prettiest Spice Girl.’ Kim wore her hair then in a shortish bob like Posh and tried to do her makeup to imitate the well-known sultry pout.

Occasionally, her school would have an ‘off day’ when you could ditch the school uniform for a day and dress as you please.

Kim and her friends would go as the Spice Girls. She had a short-sleeved leather dress with a slit up the side that mirrored the sort of outfit the chic and fashionable Posh would wear.

Kim wore this colourful bohemian inspired look with matching brown bag, tights and shoes to a Los Angeles party in 2007

Dressing up had been an important part of play time at home when she was growing up and Kim has never tired of getting ready.

These days she spends at least an hour and a half with her professional team each day becoming ‘Kim Kardashian’ for her television reality show.

Then she would spend hours with her friends or elder sister Kourtney making sure she had her hair, makeup and clothes just right.

She opted for these flared black trousers and matching vest top at the opening of Beso Restaurant in Hollywood in March 2008. It's unlikely Kim would dress this casually on the red carpet now

As a child Kim would spend hours with friends making sure she had her hair, make-up and clothes just right. She wore this monochrome dress for The People's Choice Awards in November 2007 and a stripy Sixties inspired mini to a film premiere in October 2007

She and Kourtney barely had time for breakfast in the mornings because it took them so long to get ready for school. The two girls used to play fashion games together.

One favourite, at least with Kourtney, was when she pretended to be the leading fashion designer Donna Karan, creator of the DKNY label. Poor Kim was her personal assistant and at her beck and call.

While she was still at school, Kim took a Saturday job in an upmarket boutique which was perfect for her. ‘It was the coolest clothing store in the Valley,’ she said proudly.

She loved being around the latest fashions and would often go to the store, called aptly ‘Body’, after school to work for an extra hour or two before heading home.

By 2008 Kim's style was becoming more recognisable as the looks we are used to seeing her in today. Pictured left at the GQ Men of the Year Party in LA in November 2008 and, right, at the Global Grind Grammy after party in February 2009

At the 7th Annual CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards in New York in November 2010, Kim's style was much more colourful and bohemian than the outfits she favours now

She persuaded her doting father that she needed a dress for her prom by her then favourite designer, Mark Wong Nark.

She still loves his dresses. This one was white and floor length, with a square neckline and a slit up the front.

Her long standing boyfriend, Michael Jackson’s nephew T.J., was on hand to accompany her looking immaculate and suave in a black tuxedo.

Kim wore her hair up and the two of them looked like a very glamorous young Hollywood couple which of course they were.

This dress split to the thigh was described as a pair of curtains and widely mocked. Kim wore it to the 2013 Met Ball in New York, while expecting her first child. Kim rejected the criticism saying she loved the dress

Leading fashion commentator Alison Jane Reid observes, ‘She looks film star beautiful like a young Elizabeth Taylor. She has the kind of luminous beauty that is impossible to ignore – the blue-black hair, the peach coloured skin and the almond eyes.’

Like many young women Kim was a fan of Sex and the City and in particular, Manolo Blahnik shoes which famously featured in the show.

She loved them particularly because her idol J-Lo wore a pair for the video of her hit ‘If You Had My Love’ which Kim used to sing constantly around the house.

It led to her first commercial foray into fashion when she borrowed $3,500 from her dad to buy five pairs which she promptly resold on eBay for a total profit of $9,000.

The star wore this skintight dress crafted from rope for Cannes Lions 2014 and this Ralph & Russo skirt and Atsuko Kudo latex body suit to the GQ Awards in September 2014 (right)

Kim’s natural affinity with fashion and style led to her first proper career as a stylist. She began by organising the closets of the rich and famous including Cindy Crawford and Serena Williams before becoming personal stylist to the signer Brandy and Paris Hilton, who was photographed every day so needed to take great care with her outfits. It was ideal training for when the spotlight fell on her.

By the time she appeared on Dancing with the Stars she was a reality TV star whose style was carefully scrutinised every time she appeared in public.

The retro look she sported then suited her perfectly when she danced the foxtrot. Her hair was again in a 1920s Coco Chanel bob just as it has been at her eighth grade graduation. The style accentuated her cheekbones and stunning doe eyes.

This dress by Atsuko Kudo was one of a number of bold latex creations she wore attracting both criticism and praise. Her husband Kanye West has been credited for transforming his wife's style. Pictured out and about in London in February 2015

Alison Jane Reid observed, ‘Her dress is classic showgirl – very elegant, with a liberal sprinkling of sequins and side splits, so she can show off her fabulous pins.’

Her outfits during her brief run in the show were far more fabulous than her dancing, in particular the white dress she wore for the rumba which showed off all her curves.

Away from these classic looks, Kim was being swayed by the pornification of young women in modern popular culture, being seen in outfits which reveal too much legs, booty and bosom all at the same time – one of the great fashion faux-pas.

The emphasis on Kim Kardashian and sex was self evident at the beginning of Keeping Up with the Kardashains which seemed to concentrate on her assets, especially during the episode where she is photographed for Playboy.

Here Kim wears high fashion brand Celine, of which her husband is known to be a fan, in New York this year

Since Kim emerged into the limelight in 2007, she has been at the forefront of a style that has brought the overtly sexual into the mainstream. Years ago it is a look that would have been considered vulgar, but now it is socially acceptable and aspirational.

Ironically, for her actual sex tape, which she made the night before her twenty third birthday in 2003, she displayed an entirely natural, almost innocent beauty.

For her 2011 wedding to basketball player Kris Humphries she wore a classic Vera Wang ivory wedding dress that suited her hour glass figure.

This low-key maternity look drew criticism for the use of real fur, which she paired with thigh high black boots in New York this September

For Paris Fashion Week in September 2014 Kim and her daughter wore matching sheer lace ensembles, left. In March 2015 at the French fashion event she wore a gold fringed look and debuted newly platinum cropped hair

The gown had a tulle skirt, basque waist and Chantilly lace and was matched with a pair of Giuseppe Zanotti shoes. The critics thought it too fussy and revealing far too much cleavage.

Her third wedding dress, for her marriage in Florence to Kanye West in 2014, was a triumph – a sublime couture gown by Kanye’s friend Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy which one critic described as a ‘demure lace and pearl embellished work of art.’

Sean Smith wrote the biography Kim published by HarperCollins

There’s no doubt it was flattering from all angles and, for once, Kim didn’t flaunt an ounce of flesh. It successfully walked the line between modest and sexy and was all the more tantalising for it.

Her body shape has changed so much over the years. As a young woman she was petite and relatively slender, albeit with her much admired assets on display. The problem now is that her bootylicious derriere has become an essential part of her image and, consequently, her brand.

Whatever she wears, we want to see how it shows off her behind. When she posted a picture online of her rear squeezed into a pair of jeans, she added the comment, ‘I think my butt looks too big in these.’

Kanye West has transformed Kim’s wardrobe into something far more daring. Perhaps, as a result she is inconsistent in her choices.

The latex number she wore to the GQ Man of the Year Awards in 2014 was something Kanye came up with at home and was nothing like as successful as the all gold outfit, including a new hair colour, she sported at the Hollywood Reporter Women in Entertainment breakfast in 2013.

Or, the sublime red dress she wore to the 2011 Huffington Post Game Changers Awards in New York.

Being pregnant is always a challenge for a celebrity. While expecting her first child, North, Kim wore what was described as a ‘pair of curtains’ to the 2013 Met Ball in New York. Kim rejected the criticism: ‘I didn’t care because I really loved it.

Two years later, she was back at the headlining event, and, this time, her dress by Peter Dundas for Roberto Cavelli met with universal praise.

Similarly the star's daytime look has become paired-down and simple in comparison to her earlier styles, pictured in white skinny jeans and a beige jersey top in New York in September and wearing a sklintight white roll neck dress in LA in July

Kim and Kanye both favour a mono-colour look and that has been evident during her second pregnancy, pictured in New York September 2015

While the star still likes to show off her figure, these days she is more subtle with sheer fabrics and cut-outs. Pictured, left, at Cannes Lions June 2015 and, right, wearing Proenza Schouler to the CDFA Fashion Awards in New York the same month

Alison Jane Reid enthused, ‘As a perfect celebration of a woman’s form, and the art of the couturier, this earthly bird of paradise dress is a masterpiece. A gown like this does wonders for voluptuous women the world over.’

Kim and Kanye both favour a mono-colour look and that has been much in evidence during her recent second pregnancy.

At her last big public event, the MTV VMAs in Los Angeles, she stole the headlines again in an eye popping floor length khaki dress with a lace-up front by Olivier Rousteing for Balmain, another of her favourite designers.

While her look may have changed dramatically during the past twenty years – one aspect of Kim Kardahsian’ style remains constant. She has the most amazing body confidence and has never lost it.

Kim by Sean Smith is published by HarperCollins in hardback and eBook