THE THYLANE BLONDEAU CONTROVERSY

 

Thylane Blondeau is a 10-year old French model from the Ivory coast.  She’s not only adorable, but with a face that reminds us of Brigitte Bardot. ​ After appearing in a controversial, hyper-sexualized editorial in French Vogue (wearing heavy make-up, gold stilettos,and tight clothes) she has become a sensation. Now the shocking images of the French child model have brought criticism from parents’ groups and emerged at the center of the current debate on the over-sexualization of children. The Mothers’ Union issued a damning criticism of Miss Blondeau’s Vogue pictures: 

"We have grave concerns about the modeling agency that represents Miss Blondeau, which clearly does not know if it represents a child or an adult. Photo shoots requiring her, a ten-year old girl, to dress in full make-up; teetering heels and a dress with a cleavage cut to the waist across her prepubescent body deny Miss Blondeau the right to be the child."

Good Morning America aired a piece  about Thylane and the sexualization of young girls, bringing up, yet again, teen campaign stars thirteen- year- old Elle Fanning  for Marc by Marc Jacobs and fourteen-year-old Hailee Steinfeld for Miu Miu. Personally, I think this modeling style is too over sexy to fit her very young age. But there are those voices who have defended the photos. However most critics are saying that with the appearance of an arguably-sexy 10-year-old model, the line has been drawn. 

A message from someone claiming to be Blondeau's mom turned up on her Facebook page, explaining it would be shut down to protect the little girl: 

"hey guys im the mum of thylane something going ‘s wrong at the moment with thylane and bad personn in usa about pictures she make's 8 months ago for vogue ,,thylane doesn't know about the buzz and i want to protect her from the deapest of my heart ,,, she's so young ,, so we are going to close this account for a while ,,i know all of you are good person who like her so i send you a big kiss,,thanks."

French Vogue has always pushed the boundaries with provocative images but have they gone too far this time?!