The Council of Fashion Designers of America has decided that Kim Kardashian West will be the first to receive the award honoring influencers in the fashion industry. The CFDA Awards, hosted by Issa Rae, will be held June 4, at the Brooklyn Museum, where she is expected to receive the award in person.

Kardashian West as an Influencer

In a press release, CFDA Chairwoman Diane von Furstenberg said, “Over the past decade, Kim Kardashian West has mastered the meaning of influence in the digital age."

As an entrepreneur, Kardashian West has been busy spreading her own brand.

From her websitekimkardashianwest.com her fans can shop for her makeup line KKW Beauty to her perfume line KKW Fragrance to her kids' fashion line Kids Supply. All of it online and all successful. In an interview with Forbes in June 2017, the reality star said that she felt like her whole life was leading up to having those brands, and more importantly having the ultimate and complete creative control over them. She even has her own social app Kimoji and reality video game. Yet with more than 200 million followers across her various social media, the pop icon does more than sell her own brand.

CFDA award decision

Steven Kolb, president and chief executive officer of the CFDA, said the award was suggested by Tommy Hilfiger at a board meeting.

The award is to honor those who have influenced the fashion industry by not just awareness but the impact they have brought and changes therefore made to the industry itself. The board agreed that Kim Kardashian West was the perfect recipient due to not just her large outreach to her millions of followers, but the effect her posts and words have on fashion.

The social media star has her own fashion and beauty lines, as well as a number of other products that fall under her brand, but her impact stretches further than her own name. Hilfiger has been quoted as saying, "Her reach extends far beyond her own brands. Every time she wears, posts or talks about a fashion brand, there is an immediate and significant increase in both awareness and sales." Kardashian West also happens to be friends with a number of the fashion designers and has been featured in a number of fashion campaigns and graced the cover of various magazines such as Vogue, Glamour, and Elle.

With her history, there is no question that Kardashian West is deserving of the award. However, she is not just a fashion influencer, but a general social media influencer as well. As such, her clickability will be a help to the CFDA itself. For last year's award ceremony, Kolb estimated it had around 100,000 views, but with Kim Kardashian West in attendance as an honoree that's guaranteed to change. "There's great value in acknowledging her, but also for the event itself and the exposure it brings," Kolb says, hoping her appearance will bring more attention to what the CFDA does.

I guess we'll see if that's true come June 4.
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