Kim Kardashian joined Kate Moss and her daughter, Lila Grace, for a trip to Vatican City earlier this week and, despite looking flawless, her red carpet-worthy outfit has come under criticism, with some calling the look 'disrespectful' for a visit to the Pope's home.
Kim posted a highlight reel of images on Instagram, showing herself and the rest of the group (including celeb hairstylist, Chris Appleton, and makeup artist, Makeup by Mario) on a tour around the religious place. As part of the trip, Kim and the crew were snapped at various locations, ranging from picturesque balconies to the famous Sistine Chapel.
While Kate wore a knee-length, round neck black dress and blazer combination for the visit, in keeping with the Vatican's clothing guidelines (which used to stipulate that only black outfits could be worn, although this is no longer the case), Kim is seen in various pictures wearing a sheer, off-the-shoulder, short sleeve lace dress with cut-out details across the bodice.
According to the Vatican Museums' website, visitors are only permitted entry if they are dressed appropriately. "Sleeveless and/or low-cut garments, shorts above the knee, miniskirts and hats are not permitted," reads the site's visitor's information page. "The requirement of decorum extends also to any visible personal objects as well as similarly visible distinctive personal signs (such as, for example, tattoos) that may offend Catholic morality, the Catholic religion, and common decency.”
The outfit prompted some to take to Twitter to express their thoughts on Kim's look, calling is "disrespectful" and "inappropriate" considering the Vatican's dress code:
In Kim's post, however, she says that she did adhere to the dress code and covered up when inside St. Peter's Basilica and Sistine Chapel. When you scroll through, you can see Kim wearing an oversized leather jacket in the second and last image, and folded over her arm in a handful of other pics.
"We had the most incredible experience touring Vatican City @vaticanmuseums," writes Kim. "It was amazing to be able to view all of the iconic art, architecture and ancient Roman sculptures in person, especially Michelangelo’s works. We even had an opportunity to view their private archive of robes worn by every pope in history, dating back to the 1500’s. Thank you @ocspecial for arranging the visit. (Don’t worry, I adhered to the dress code and fully covered up while inside St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel’s)."
Natasha Harding is the former Fashion Editor (Digital & Print) at Cosmopolitan & Women's Health UK. Working in fashion journalism for just under ten years, she’s covered over 30 international fashion weeks, hundreds of red carpets and religiously scours the runway every season to create the brand’s bi-annual trend report. Joining Cosmopolitan back in Australia, Natasha moved to London a few years ago and is now the resident expert for celebrity style and industry news, fashion features and e-commerce. Follow Natasha on Instagram
