It’s Now Socially Acceptable to Think Model Thylane Blondeau, 15, Is a Babe

Thylane Blondeau at Cannes. (Photo: Getty Images)

You may recall Thylane Blondeau as the 10-year-old girl who caused a commotion in 2011 for wearing heels and a full face of makeup in French glossy Cadeaux. Though the spread was undeniably beautiful, some people were upset about the mature themes it seemed to suggest and claimed that Blondeau had been overly sexualized.

But, oh, what a difference five years can make.

Blondeau at Cannes. (Photo: Getty Images)

Blondeau (who is actually more blond-ish than anything, hehehe) is now 15, repped by IMG in both New York and Paris, and arguably even more stunning than ever. She and her pillowy lips made their red carpet debut at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday at the premiere of The BFG, wearing a fairly demure black mullet gown and minimalist black velvet sandals. In a far contrast from the photos that made her famous, both her dress and her makeup were subdued.

Despite her young age, Blondeau — the daughter of a former soccer player and an actress — has kept busy as a model since her initial high-profile gigs. She has scored covers of Jalouse and L’Officiel and an editorial in Teen Vogue, and has starred in campaigns for French childrenswear brand Little Eleven Paris and Paul and Joe Sister.

One of Blondeau’s scandal-causing photos. (Photo: Cadeaux)

Though she did walk the Jean Paul Gaultier runway at age 4, most of Blondeau’s portfolio skews commercial. She’s still a year shy of the generally accepted, industry-wide standard of only employing models who are 16 or older, and according to a video posted on her YouTube channel in June, she stood 5 feet, 4 inches tall — which, depending on how much she has grown since then, puts her at about 4 inches shorter than even the shortest runway models. So, whether she ends up taking over the catwalks á la Gigi and Kendall remains to be seen.

Either way, there’s no denying the power of this “it” girl’s pouty visage — and we have a feeling we’ll be seeing it everywhere in the very near future.

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