Kanye West: 'Kim Kardashian is the modern day Marie Antoinette'

Kanye West has branded his wife Kim Kardashian the "modern day Marie Antoinette" because she is so sought after.

Kardashian first rose to prominence in 2007 after a sex tape with her ex-boyfriend, singer Ray J, leaked online, but she has since capitalised on the exposure by establishing herself as a reality TV star and business mogul, with highly-successful fashion, beauty, and video game ventures to her name.

Her social media presence has also turned her into one of the most photographed women in the world, and Kanye believes her pop culture influence makes her some kind of royalty.

"My wife is the face of the change of fashion, where designers who literally wouldn't let her sit in shows are now making entire collections based off of her shape," he tells Stephen Gan in a new behind-the-scenes interview during a recent Harper's Bazaar photoshoot.

"It's funny, for Kim to be photographed so much, (she) represents our modern day Marie Antoinette. She gets hair and make-up every day, not just for a photo shoot. Why? Because every day is a photo shoot."

Kanye, who has his own Yeezy sneaker and clothing line with Adidas, is also convinced he is making moves in fashion which will go down in history.

"I think that I'm really close to - if not at the centre of - changes in our time," he boasts. "I make the most sought after sneaker, and we're within 100 years of the sneaker being created. You think of Roman times, or Jesus times, and the first word that comes to mind is 'robes'. People will look back at our time 1,000 years from now and they'll say 'sneakers'."

Despite his success so far in the fashion industry, Kanye claims he is still pushed around by some designers, who look down on his accomplishments.

He continues, "When you work in fashion, because I have a 'lower cred' in fashion, sometimes I find myself getting bullied by creatives. People try to force their ideas on me or use me as a platform, to use me to get paid, to use my name, and also just to get their idea out. And there's times where I reach my breaking point."

Kanye and Kim feature on the cover of the new Harper's Bazaar Icons issue.