NEW YORK, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Givenchy's creative director Riccardo Tisci says his relationship with reality star Kim Kardashian got him "killed" in the industry.
The 40-year-old fashion designer is known to be a favorite of Kardashian and her husband rapper Kanye West -- even dressing the couple for their wedding -- but Tisci told Details magazine, the fashion community hasn't always be accepting of the reality star.
"I didn't care what people thought about Kim," he said. "In the beginning, I met her because of my respect for Kanye, and then I liked her a lot and we became friends. I got killed because of this. But I didn't care. That is a friend, you see."
Tisci goes on to say that he likes to surround himself with people he legitimately likes "even when they don't have an Oscar nomination or they don't have an album out."
"If they're my friends, I respect them to the end. And you need to feel people stay with you because they love you, not only as an artist, but also as a human being. Look at Kanye and Kim -- at the beginning I was the only one."
Tisci says he and West have worked together in building up Kardashian's likeness in the eyes of the fashion industry.
"Every designer is dying to dress her now," he says.