The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree as they say. Having inherited her mom’s striking looks, little Dannielynn Birkhead, the daughter of the late Anna Nicole Smith is following in her famous mom’s footsteps. The adorable six year-old is being featured as a model for GUESS Kids in their Spring 2013 campaign. Her ads start running in January 2013 in magazines, on billboards and on buses.
Smith, who died of a drug overdose in 2007 at the age of thirty nine, skyrocketed to fame as the face of GUESS ads in the early 1990s. Since her untimely death when their daughter was only 5 months old, dad Larry Birkhead has been raising her on his own.
He told ABC’s Good Morning America that:
“Dannielynn has always looked up to her mom’s image and … I think that this is kind of Dannielynn’s way of paying tribute to her mom in her own special way.”
Young Dannielynn isn’t the first model offspring to pose for ad campaigns. Last January, Cindy Crawford’s then ten year-old daughter, Kaia Gerber, became the new face of Young Versace. In that case, Crawford had put a stop to her daughter’s career after the ads came out with Kaia wearging a very short skirt and leather jacket. Crawford said at the time that she’s too young to pursue a career and should wait till she’s seventeen.
What’s interesting about Dannielynn’s case though is that she’s modelling for exactly the same brand that made her mom famous and the photos aim to capture the joy of childhood.
The GUESS kids images were shot on the beach in Malibu by Elliston Lutz and directed by Paul Marciano, Creative Director at GUESS? Inc. It’s the first time GUESS featured a child of a former model. The campaign also includes photos of Peyton Edmonds the daughter of singer Babyface.
According to her dad, this is the first and last modelling gig for Dannielynn. All the proceeds are going to a fund for the child.
So, how do you feel about famous kids modelling? Too young, or just right?
Wow, that girl is six? She looks twelve in that picture. Not sure how I feel – it’s only one picture but it doesn’t seem to capture the “joy of childhood” as you say they aim to. It’s a striking photograph, but that girl looks downright melancholy to me – not in any way joyful.
She is a beautiful child, but looking years older than she should which sets a worrisome precedent. This isn’t just posing for a Sears catalogue; this is blatant exploitation of a six-year old. And “According to her dad, this is the first and last modelling gig for Dannielynn.” I don’t buy it.