Last week, Kim Kardashian delighted the nation when she told Seth Meyers that North West peed on Kanye during their Vogue family portrait — revealing one of the messier realities of having a diaperless little person on a fashion set.
Though detractors maintain that unclothed babies make for distasteful props, magazine editors have had few qualms about throwing a small nude human in the mix. It’s a bizarre trope, especially as many models seem fairly inept when it comes to holding these babies. In a 2003 issue of Vogue, Natalia Vodianova dangles her son, Lucas, over a regulation-size swimming pool; on the cover of Vogue Spain in 2011, Dree Hemingway holds an anonymous, frigid-looking infant by its feet. Fortunately for the photographers, including a baby’s face has long proven optional, which explains the prevalence of the genre’s sub-category: baby butts in fashion editorials. From Mischa Barton holding an infant like it’s a large bouquet of flowers to Kate Upton swathing a toddler in tulle: Click through our slideshow for a brief history of naked babies in fashion magazines.