Fashion: The Ten Year Old French Model Who Has Everyone Talking

Posted on 15th Aug 11 by Leanne Cunningham | 4

To be a fashion ‘it girl’ one must expect the following: a Tumblr account dedicated to your every move, a legion of copycat girls and fashion houses banging on your door, a hangbag named after you, and perhaps even a rock star boyfriend. To have many of these things you’d expect to be of an age where you have acquired some form of life experience, or at the very least be old enough to drink alcohol at the countless cocktail parties you’ll be invited to. This isn’t quite the case for the newest talking point in the fashion world. Ten year old Thylane Loubry Blondeau (pronounced Tea-len Loa-bree Blonde-oh) hails from France and is the offspring of a former soccer player and a tv presenting clothes designer. She was first brought to peoples attention in 2005 while walking the catwalk for Jean Paul Gaultier to unveil his 2005 Spring line and has since graced the cover of Vogue Enfants. At any age this is an impressive CV for a model, so what makes this young girl so special?

Thylane is one of very few young model sensations set to make a big name for themselves in such a hard industry to break. She provides epic beauty, effortless chicness and a modeling portfolio that is far beyond her age. Many Parisians have compared the young girl to Brigitte Bardot, with her waist length hair and pouting lips reminiscent of the star who began her modeling career at fifteen with an Elle magazine spread. Other comparisons have included Lara Stone and Lou Doillon, with an innocence which many older models attempt to match. Of course this innocence is to be expected of someone at the age of ten and with French and other European models becoming younger and younger (an expected working age now being fifteen) her age was not seen as in issue until her fame became worldwide.

When featured in Vogue Enfants in December many questioned the age appropriateness of the shoot as she was pictured wearing red nail varnish, high heels, a large amount of make up while spread out on a leopard print chair. The CEO of Concerned Women for America, Penny Nance said, “This is clearly child exploitation and her parents should be legally charged.” The United Kingdom have just begun to try to enforce restrictions on the sexualization of children, which would possibly mean that if this was a British publication that both the parents and publishers would face legal backlash. However, when looking at moral beliefs it must be remembered that with morality comes differences in beliefs between cultures, generations, and class systems and this is no different. It is hard to take outrage seriously when it comes from a country which produces television shows such as ‘Toddlers and Tiara’ and hundreds of beauty pageants all over the country with age groups as young as 0-6 months. These pageants promote the use of spray tans, wigs, false eyelashes, fake teeth, and make up on children for the glory of winning a plastic tiara and prize money, if they are lucky. Brigitte Bardot began modeling at fifteen with an Elle Magazine spread, Lara stone was fourteen when discovered at a Paris metro stop, and even Kate Moss began her career at fourteen. Before giving out about the fashion industry and their exploitation of children consider other industries and their prodigies. A twelve year old boy from Texas designed a dress for Michelle Obama, this years winner of the top prize at the Google Science Fair was a seventeen year old girl who made a breakthrough in the treatment of ovarian cancer, and many of todays big Hollywood stars began as children.

In her photos, and quite probably in her personal life, Thylane seems to be a well adjusted, confident child who has been privileged in her life. Her parents who have experience of being in the public eye are responsible for her photo shoots, and not a righteous parental group in America. In five years time when Thylane is dominating billboards, magazines, catwalks and media advertisements it is likely that no one is going to have a problem with them.

Tags: fashion, france, Thylane Blondeau, Thylane Loubry Blondeau, Vogue, Vogue Enfants