Is it official? Do you have to have famous parents to be a model these days?

[GoodbyeToAllOfThat]

It used to be that models were actually models, plucked out of obscurity and quite often, poverty.

Now it's all celebrity offspring. The Jagger girls are simply not model material. Gigi Hadid might have been a successful catalog model were it not for the Real Housewives connection. Kendall Jenner. Haley Baldwin.

Not a real model in the whole lot. It's perverse.

AIBU?

Jourdan Dunn is the only well known current model I can think of who hasn't come from famous parents or a wealthy family.

I got confused with Ireland Baldwin and Dakota Johnson then. Would DJ have got her 50 Shades role without famous parents?

My favourite part of the Oscars was when Dakota and her mum, Melanie Griffith, had a row on camera on the red carpet!

Now Kylie Jenner is also operating as a model. She looks like any girl you'd see at the mall on any day of the week, what a hot trashy mess she is.

Famous names have always opened doors. Even people we don't always think of in this light have links, relatives, etc. and things that may have helped with a leg up. There was a fascinating thread a while back about this.

Johnny Depps DD has a cute face but her head is big and her forehead is so big it's verging on being a fivehead on a body that can't be more than 5.4ft. I have zero idea of what she'd be able to model.

I know people will say I'm mean but if you tout yourself as a model you must expect to be judged on your looks.

Changing the subject slightly how does Alex's Chung make a living? Is she a 'yacht girl' or some rich mans side piece? I keep seeing everwhere being called a model or presenter and haven't seen her model or present anything since T4 about 10 years ago.

YADNBU

I too would be gutted if I'd pulled myself up by the bootstraps, paid hundreds of thousands for my kids educations, just to have them do nothing for a living.

Doing nothing is exactly what model/actor/column writer/professional partygoer amounts to.

I have never understood the Jagger girls, I think they are very ordinary looking, and agree that none of the celeb offspring already mentioned would have the "careers" they do if it weren't for their famous parents.

In fact "celebrity offspring" IS pretty much a career these days.

I don't blame the celebs per se, it's the media who thinks we're all interested in some B list celebrity's kids, their house, whether they wax their armpits and where they have their hair cut. It seems that there is no such thing as too much information these days.

But the media are also increasingly made up of the kids of such and such so they all just big up and promote each other.

100% guaranteed future 'models' to look out for: Denise Van Outen, Geri Halliwell, Myleen Klass and Amanda Holdens DD's!

Yanbu, these offspring of celebs have a free pass into the 'modelling' sphere, regardless of looks. I don't think the Beckham kids are better looking than your average kid in the park, but they are well groomed in designer clobber.

Can you imagine when Katy Price's, Chantelle Houghton's or Kerry Katona's kids get old enough to be flogged to the nearest publicist?

Jeepers....

Yanbu

As someone up thread said, it's not just models, it's all 'celebrity professions' as it were. See for example, Jaime Winstone, Ray Winstones daughter. Claudia Winkelman is another (controversial!), The Beckham kid etc. I think it might have been Julie Burchill who wrote a fab article saying at one time these professions (i.e acting, journalism, modelling etc) were a way for working class kids to make it big, but the route nowadays is to have famous parents who can pave the way for you instead.

Daisy Lowe is in no way attractive. I honestly don't get how she can be a model.

Who is Kendall Jenner?

I don't, though, really blame them: it must be an odd life being the child of a properly famous person / couple, and if someone comes along and offers you work on the back of that I'm not surprised they don't turn it down.

Nepotism isn't really a new thing, either, depressing as that thought is

Has anyone read Rob Lowe's latest memoir?

He talks at some length about how he wants his two boys to get a good education, he worries about their college entrance exams (SATs, I think, in US parlance), he goes with them to visit different college open days and at one point says something like, "So far, neither son has asked me for a Screen Actors Guild card" and you can tell that - even though he loves acting and is proud of his work - he is just as proud that his sons are taking the route of education and "real" jobs. It really struck me and I like him all the more for that.

And yes to the OP who asked about Alexa Chung. She is now in her thirties and what does she do ? She went out with a famous singer years ago, presented a few programmes years ago and hasn't had a genuine modelling gig for years (other than personality-led shoots)...I would love to know how she makes a living.

I agree about Daisy Lowe Twinkle She always looks as though she has a stuffy nose somehow

And those poor Willis children with their dad's features.

Elizabeth Jagger has slipped off the face of the earth hasn't she? I remember the most high profile thing I saw her in was the M&S adverts.

Leah Wood is another. Very odd, unattractive looking woman but was a "model"

Is Brooklyn enrolled in 6th Form come September?

Isn't he signed to a football academy?

HeyDuggee
Thing is, nobody would hire a Paulina Poryzkova type when Kate Moss type became the it girl, and if a a Linda Evangelista walked into agency now, she's probably be told it's not the look they're going for.

I do agree, style has moved on and Linda Evangelista and those 90s supermodels no longer have the right look for today.

But there are surely some women with the right look who don't have a rock star dad / footballer dad / lord of the realm dad.

undoubtedly the mind boggles on that one!

I always wondered what the fuss was about Rumer Willis. If you look at her closely she has Demi's tiny face on Bruices huge head!

I have no idea Soup, I did hear about him being linked with a football team but not sure which one.

Anyone know?

I think Romeo Beckham has truly exceptional looks. Whereas his brothers look like great, cheerful, active kids, kids to be proud of. But not model material.

Famous people have publicists and PRs which their kids can access too. Anyone can be 'famous' with the right PR. The tabloids and fashion mags are grateful to get their pages filled for free. Where Sprog-of-famous has a fabulous photo spread where Burberry is mentioned copiously - it's an obvious set-up. Toffs play that PR game very well too. Open to anyone with the cash to splash...

Perhaps adults surviving on a diet of 'fame' and approval assume their kids need the same.

Jude Law's son...just no.

Linda and Paulina would definitely still get signed with a model agency today.
I don't know if they would reach the same epic heights though.
Classic looks always find work.
The really stunning celeb children are hidden away somewhere. :)

Dakota Johnson is third generation.