one of these girls appears to be older than 5 or 6 years old, and yet all of them are wearing gobs of makeup, clothes and jewels few grown women could actually afford. Instead of little girls playing dress up in their mothers’ closet, the effect of these pictures cautions against bringing up kids too fast. This adds up to a conflation of women and children which serves to uphold prejudice against adult women and the exploitation of girls. Really very strange that a French edition of one of the world’s most popular fashion magazines brought out a publication over the Christmas period featuring this thinks. Such was the level of uproar that the controversy has now crossed borders. The photography session, held about a month before the release of the publication, was led by prestigious fashion photographer Sharif Hamza. The models, Thylane, Lea and Prune, are shown reclining on a divan and a bed and standing in front of a mirror dressed in made-to-measure garments designed by Versace, Lanvin and Yves Saint Laurent. Almost all the images show the girls enjoying a sophisticated and luxurious lifestyle. Although the article purports to show little girls playing at being grown-ups by dressing up in their mothers’ clothes, many have spoken out against the images claiming they portray childhood in a sexual way. Some magazines say that the series of photographs is another piece of evidence of the adultification of young girls, an adultification that looks suspiciously like child porn, given the sexualization of adult women. We agree with them for sure. Even if we are sure that Vogue’s intentions and photographers intention too was not to express that. We really appreciate the artistic quality of the pictures.
