For the decision by the brand's creative director Olivier Rousteing (a close friend of the Kardashian family) to cast the reality TV star and her rapper husband was a controversial one.

But it is symbolic of their meteoric rise to becoming the most powerful couple of 2014, a title previously bestowed on their close friends Beyonce, 33, and Jay Z, 45.

For in a year that Bey and Jay have faced rumours of marriage trouble and controversy over everything from their song lyrics to photoshopping Instagram posts, Kim, 34, and 37-year-old Kanye's joint profile has been going from strength to strength.

Especially since they've firmly cemented themselves within the fashion clique as one of the world's most stylish couples, counting Givenchy head honcho Ricardo Tisci as a close companion.

Indeed, it was Vogue editor Anna Wintour who gave them the first seal of approval, putting a wedding dress-clad Kim and a suited Kanye on the magazine's front cover in April.

The edition featuring the power couple - nicknamed Kimye - sold an estimated 150,000 more copies than when Beyonce appeared on the cover the previous year.

Anna Wintour said of the cover: 'Part of the pleasure of editing Vogue, one that lies in a long tradition of this magazine, is being able to feature those who define the culture at any given moment, who stir things up, whose presence in the world shapes the way it looks and influences the way we see it.

'I think we can all agree on the fact that that role is currently being played by Kim and Kanye to a T. (Or perhaps that should be to a K?)

'As for the cover, my opinion is that it is both charming and touching, and it was, I should add, entirely our idea to do it; you may have read that Kanye begged me to put his fiancée on Vogue's cover.

'He did nothing of the sort,' she explained. 'The gossip might make better reading, but the simple fact of the matter is that it isn't true.' 

(dailymail.co.uk)