The Web’s all abuzz about the provocative pictures of 10-year-0ld Thylane Lena-Rose Loubry-Blondeau in French Vogue. Guest edited by Tom Ford, the January issue features the girl in heavy make-up, revealing outfits — including stilettos and a gold dress with slashed v-neck exposing her bare chest and stomach — and sexy poses on leopard-print bed covers.
Some have compared Thylane, the daughter of former French football player Patrick Blondeau and French actress Veronika Loubry, to 1960s siren Brigitte Bardot, who appeared in the pages of Elle at the age of 15. But isn’t Thylane too young to be doing these types of shoots?
In my view, ten years old (or 15, for that matter) is way too young for photos like these, especially in our cyber-age when kids tend to grow up way too fast as it is. Shouldn’t kids be allowed to be kids? Even if Thylane was fine with doing the photo shoot, she’s too young to understand the repercussions.
I don’t have a problem with her modeling, but how about sticking with more age-appropriate photos? Even the photo on the left seems fine. There’s no doubt she’s a gorgeous girl, but she actually looks like a GIRL in this photo, not like she’s trying to be Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver.
Thylane’s mother appears to be protective, even shutting down the girl’s Facebook fan page (see her note to fans, right; I’m not sure if the page has been re-activated or if this is a different page), but where was she during the Vogue shoot?
And, of course, images of the child have appeared in far less reputable (I use that word loosely) pages than Vogue‘s. A Tumblr blog dedicated to the girl’s modeling career is explicitly entitled f**kyeahthylaneblondeau, which, according to Blackbookmag.com, featured thousands of candid shots of Thylane but now appears to have been closed down.
The Vogue pics will likely be discussed at a summit called by Prime Minister David Cameron and the Mothers’ Union aimed at cracking down on the sexualisation of children in advertising and the media. Fleur Dorrell, of the Mothers’ Union, described the images as “physically disturbing” and “blurring all thoughts of beauty.”
Helen Goodman, of the UK’s Labour Party, accused Vogue of being “disgraceful and totally irresponsible” by publishing the pictures, saying it should have known better. “They have descended into the gutter by doing this,” she said.
What do you think? Are the photos too provocative for a 10-year-old girl? And shouldn’t the parents be more responsible about the type of modeling their daughter does? Or is ten too young to model at all?
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