We’ve all spent time playing dress-up in our mothers’ best dresses and heels, but photos of 10-year-old model Thylane Loubry Blondeau dressed and made-up like a lady in Vogue Paris have got critics in an uproar.
Though the editorial was published months ago, it has only been getting negative attention on our side of the pond recently. Good Morning America aired a segment about the sexualization of young girls, using Loubry Blondeau as a prime example. Since then, the corresponding headlines have been dubbing the photos sexually inappropriate and shocking while blaming everyone, from the magazine to the fashion industry as a whole to Loubry Blondeau’s parents.
While famous models like Kate Moss and Gisele Bündchen started their careers by the time they were only 14, they were always portrayed as adults. Even 13-year-old Elle Fanning’s Marc Jacobs campaign and 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld’s Miu Miu campaign portray them as older and less sexual. What doesn’t sit well with critics is that Loubry Blondeau looks overly suggestive and—above all—undoubtedly like a child.
Is this media backlash refreshingly appropriate, or are critics just looking for a way to brutalize artistic liberties that they don’t understand? Everyone seems to be holding different opinions, but as the French would say, “C’est la vie!”
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