From Paris Hilton Stylist to American Media Phenomenon: Kim Kardashian Turns 40

Kim Kardashian turns 40 on 21 October and the TV star decided to celebrate this particular milestone in a special way. According to reports, the American media personality has chosen to rent a private island in the Caribbean to which she is inviting about 30 close friends and family - including her mother Kris, sisters Khloe, Kourtney, Kylie and Kendall and husband Kanye West - to help her celebrate.

The name of the island has not been disclosed.

Born the daughter of the successful attorney and businessman Robert Kardashian (1944 to 2003), Kim (short for Kimberley), first started to attract attention in show-business as a stylist for Paris Hilton in the early 2000s. She also appeared as a guest between 2003 and 2006 on various episodes of The Simple Life, the reality television series starring Paris Hilton and her friend Nicole Richie. In 2006, Kardashian opened a boutique and in February 2007, a sex tape made by Kim and American rapper Ray J in 2002 was leaked, giving her further publicity and helping her along the path of a rising star.

Since October 2007, the whole Kardashian family have appeared in the reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which became insanely popular in the United States, and has made Kim, by getting her to endorse a variety of products, an international superstar and extremely wealthy woman.

Sputnik invites you to have a look at some of the most memorable and iconic looks Kim Kardashian has adopted in our latest photo gallery.

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Kim has been something of a trend-setter herself: here, Kim Kardashian West arrives at the CFDA Fashion awards at The Brooklyn Museum in New York City on 4 June 2018 sporting a crop top with matching pencil skirt and minimalist neutral sandals - one of her most famous looks.

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Despite the crowded field, the model still managed to cause a sensation at the The Met Gala Celebrating Camp on 6 May 2019. Kim Kardashian West arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for its annual fundraising event in a Thierry Mugler silicone and silk dress that looked as though it had been sprayed on with its appearance that it was shimmering with water droplets.

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The model loves to wear near-naked dresses that show her curves and leave little to the imagination. At the amfAR Gala New York on 6 February 2019, Kim Kardashian West arrives at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City with her sister Kourtney Kardashian, on the left.

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Kim was causing a stir long before she married the rapper Kanye West in 2014. Here she is, having struck gold in an outfit by KaufmanFranco at the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, on 13 February 2011. She is the seventh-most followed person on Instagram, with 190 million followers.

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The model claims her curves are the natural effect of being Armenian. However, her incredible figure has been said for years to have had a helping hand from a surgeon with a boxful of implants. In this picture taken on 4 May 2015, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West arrive at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala benefit in honour of the museum’s exhibit China: Through the Looking Glass.

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Again in 2015, Kim Kardashian West attends the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on 7 November for its Art+Film Gala, looking exceedingly stylish in a black bodysuit under a sheer black dress, topped off with a black jacket.

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Kim Kardashian West appears at the 2018 Met Gala on 7 May, at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art with a radical new hairstyle. It is said that her hair and makeup can take up to four hours for special events such as this.

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Kim attends the Mademoiselle C cocktail party at the Pavillon Ledoyen on 1 October 2013 in Paris along with Italian designer Riccardo Tisci.

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The model says that she works out for 90 minutes a day, six days a week, under the supervision of her trainer Melissa Alcantara. Here, she attends the Tom Ford Spring/Summer 2018 Runway Show at Park Avenue Armory on 6 September 2017 in New York City.

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The model likes to wear flesh-coloured, knee-length, latex bodycon dresses, showing off her curvy body to wonderful effect. In this picture Kim Kardashian West is attending the Hype Energy Drinks US Launch on 2 June 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee.

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The style icon has appeared in several films and TV shows as herself, including Ocean’s 8, 2 Broke Girls, and How I Met Your Mother. This is Kim Kardashian West at the Beautycon Festival LA 2018 at the Los Angeles Convention Center on 15 July 2018 in Los Angeles, California.

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Kanye West and Kim Kardashian West attend the Versace Fall 2019 fashion show at the American Stock Exchange Building in lower Manhattan on 2 December 2018 in New York City. The model has turned selfies into an art form, compiling her “best” selfies from her various social media accounts and publishing them in 2015 in a coffee-table art book entitled Selfish.

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Kim Kardashian poses for a photograph alongside the runway for the Becca swimwear show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Miami in Miami Beach, Florida on 13 July 2007.

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The model often wears a black bra and high-waisted briefs under a sheer dress. Here Kim Kardashian is sporting that signature look for the GQ Men Of The Year Awards in 2014 at a central London venue on 2 September.

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Kim claims that she invented the selfie, saying she used to take photos of herself in the early Eighties. This is her in 2017 attending the Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons: Art Of The In-Between Costume Institute Gala at Metropolitan Museum of Art on 1 May 2017 in New York City.