Kim Kardashian has the most-liked Instagram picture ever ... and according to her husband, Kanye West, it took four days to produce.
Yes, this picture required four days of "exhaustive" editing and retouching before it was Internet-ready.
Speaking at an event in Cannes, France, Kanye told the crowd he spent his honeymoon perfecting the wedding photo. (Via YouTube / canneslion)
Page Six quotes his epic explanation: "Can you imagine telling someone who wants to just Instagram a photo, who's the No. 1 person on Instagram, 'We need to work on the color of the flower wall,' or the idea that it's a Givenchy dress, and it's not about the name Givenchy, it's about the talent that is Riccardo Tisci — and how important Kim is to the Internet. ... And the fact the No. 1 most-liked photo [on Instagram] has a kind of aesthetic was a win for what the mission is, which is raising the palette."
Yeah ... Kanye went on to say the extensive Photoshopping was necessary after Annie Leibovitz, who shot the couple for Vogue, allegedly pulled out of photographing the wedding just days before the event. Kanye still wanted the picture to look like Leibovitz's work.
It's just kind of all-around bizarre — but Kanye's confession does play into a growing trend of celebs retouching pictures before posting them to social media.
Beyonce somewhat famously only shares professional photographs of herself on Instagram and Tumblr, seemingly taken by the so-called "visual director" she's employed since 2005 to document her every waking hour, according to GQ.
And one of those photos caused a stir online this spring, with fans calling Photoshop fail on what looked like a digitally-inserted thigh gap. (Via E!, The Huffington Post, Hollywood Life)
The Internet has also called out Victoria's Secret model Miranda Kerr for fixing her photos. The Fashion Spot caught the star posting what look like altered images a few times.
And Kim Kardashian has been caught seemingly getting a computer nip-and-tuck, with BuzzFeed suggesting she's changed her waistline and digitally enhanced her rear in selfies.
All of this has About.com laughing at the celebs who find this necessary.
"Getting caught editing selfies and other 'personal' photos is ultimately more unflattering than any self-perceived flaws these celebs might have. Besides, with everybody watching those pixels, the chances of getting away with creative editing are getting slimmer and slimmer, just like those waistlines."
Still, the Kimye wedding photo takes it to a whole new level — the image wasn't edited to change just Kim and Kanye's appearance, but the entire shot's appearance, as if Instagram were a magazine. Apparently filters aren't enough.
But Bustle says maybe that's what Kanye meant by "raising the palette."
"This whole thing is just soooo them. I feel confident that they loved working on this together and when the photo broke the Instagram record they popped open a bottle of Moët and were like, 'We did it! It was all worth it! I love you so much!!!'"
Yep, sounds about right. And, hey, it is kind of refreshing that Kimye actually admitted to it.
