News of a 10-year-old model appearing in a provocatively styled editorial in French Vogue has spread like hot fire around the net ever since Good Morning America recently broke the story in the US.

The French child model Thylane Lena-Rose Blondeau – daughter of former football player Patrick Blondeau and presenter turned designer Véronika Loubry – is seen posing in adult makeup, high heels and haute couture.

Blondeau’s styling sees her looking a long shot from typical 10-year-old little girls. And styling aside, her expressions and poses are still arguably very adult.

We at Talent Management, one of Europe’s leading modelling agencies, represent a number of child models, which we frequently place in modelling assignments.

But the question we pose is not whether modelling at a young age is good or bad, but whether it is ethical to use child models in what could be perceived as provocative images.

The reality is that when dealt with professionally, modelling for a child of any age can be hugely beneficial, for both their social and emotional development. However, inappropriate styling, settings and direction can have a hugely negative result both on the child model and the easily influenced children who may browse images such as those in Vogue. This, of course, leads to immediate outcry, as has sadly happened with Blondeau’s case.

Fleur Dorrell, of the Mothers’ Union, recently told the Daily Mail the images are ‘physically disturbing’, while Labour MP Helen Goodman accused French Vogue of being ‘disgraceful and totally irresponsible’ by publishing the shots.

Talent Management strongly believes that children shouldn’t grow up too fast – we want our child models to be involved in assignments that will help them develop physically, emotionally and socially at an appropriate rate for their age. As such, we rigorously vet all our clients, insuring that all modelling jobs are age appropriate and that our child models have fun on set.

One of our recent assignments for Vintage Kit and Disney by Vintage Kit, for example, saw our child models having a blast modelling the brand’s new range for a campaign video. The children were asked to simply play on set with confetti, balloons and each other, and clearly had a lot of fun!

Check out the movie and let us know your thoughts on child modelling and the importance of age appropriate modelling assignments.