What Were Beyoncé And Mama Knowles Thinking?
When I saw these ads I first was speechless…but don’t worry, I’ll have enough of my voice back to rail about this on BTR Today later on.
Yes, these are ads for the House of Deréon, a clothing line created by singer Beyoncé and her mama, Tina Knowles. According to Wikipedia:
House of Deréon is a prêt-à-porter fashion line introduced by singer Beyoncé Knowles and her mother/stylist Tina Knowles. The style and concept is inspired by three generations of women in their family, with the name “Deréon” paying tribute to Beyoncé’s grandmother, Agnèz Deréon.
Expanding the brand, Jay Z and her sister Solange Knowles launched the junior line Deréon that is geared towards younger consumers and is more reasonably priced. The tag line for Deréon is “Where the sidewalk and catwalk meet”. […]
It is reported that Beyoncé has an active role in the House of Deréon’s design department, approving and discussing fashion designs and ideas.
First of all, what is it with all the stinkin’ acute accent marks? I don’t like to drag out Character Map every time I try to type up an article.
I like what Pop Gumbo had to say:
Tina, we understand that you had to pimp out your daughter at a young age in order to make her a star and bring money into the home. Without that sacrifice, “bootylicious” might never have made it into the American vernacular. So for that we are truly grateful, but this boo, is a disgrace. These little girls look like whores. Why all the lipstick?
What is the next ad going to look like? Babies wearing gold metallic bikinis while five-year old boys throw Monopoly money on them.
These ads creep me out…but more importantly, they make me sick. The top photo is the worst offender; the bottom one is just dumb in a too-much-makeup-on-a-little-kid way. It’s bad enough that we have teenagers walking around dressed like they’re looking for their pimp, but little girls? I’m no prude, and I don’t believe little girls should always be in ruffly dresses and hair bows, but come on…high heels on preschoolers? They’re probably a grown-up pair, but still…what are these people thinking? Who would buy such trash for their child? Why would advertisers want to show children in full makeup and hairdos, looking like adults? What’s with all the lipstick and “come hither” looks?
And the sad thing is that clothing like these are not relegated to ads. Go to any mall on a weekday and you can see mothers with their preschoolers walking around dressed like this. Whatever happened to kids being kids? Being silly with mommy’s makeup and playing dress-up with grownup clothes and shoes in one’s home, during playtime, is one thing. Taking it to the streets is something else entirely. And that’s exactly what these little girls look like they’re getting ready to do. Let children be children…and let children look like children.
Don’t tell me I’m a sicko who is seeing something that isn’t there…take some software, age the photographs of these girls about fifteen years, don’t change their expressions, and see what they look like. Sexy ads. I rest my case.
A friend of mine once told me that we can make our daughters targets or treasures. I’ll let you decide.
Pink Stripe WordPress Theme Designed by Joni Mueller &
This is disgusting. Shame on Beyonce, her mother and anyone else who thinks it’s O.K. to make their 4 year old daughters look like sexual objects. I thought Libby Lu was bad but this makes them look like Girl Scouts. I’m so glad I have a little boy.
Comment by Shannon — May 9, 2008 @ 11:00 am
Is that little girl wearing heels in the top photo? WTF?
Comment by D — May 9, 2008 @ 11:32 am
This pisses me off too. The things society (not just America and not just in recent years) have done for fashion is just horrific sometimes.
China up until somewhat recent history practiced footbinding which is grotesque, what do we do? We promote millions of little girls to be little Jon Bonettes.
Disgusting.
Comment by Kaden — May 9, 2008 @ 3:14 pm
20 years ago, my friend’s 5-year-old daughter wore a cute little Mexican folk dress to school for picture day. Imagine the mom’s surprise when the photo appeared with the shoulders of the dress suddenly yanked halfway down the child’s arms (off-the-shoulder! sexy! is what the child claimed she was going for). “Where on earth did you ever get such an idea, child?” the mom demanded to know. “From you, Mommy. This is just like the shirt you wear to my t-ball games.” Indeed.
My own daughter was never allowed crop tops or pants with writing across the ass. Children are at risk enough as it is without throwing “sexy” clothes on them.
This particular line of clothing isn’t “sexy”, but it is really tacky and does project a certain image that really isn’t appropriate for children unless they’re in a dream sequence on some inane sitcom.
Comment by Joanie — May 9, 2008 @ 4:11 pm
What the Hell is WRONG with these people?!?!! It’s one thing seeing adult women dress up like this and it’s only marginally tolerable with teenagers… but for the love of Christ Almighty! These children look like they’re ready to go stand out on the street corner!
Look, I get that most little girls love to dress up and feel grown up and i also get they love to wear lots of sparkly jewelery. But designers forget these are *little girls!* I know there’s tons of competition in the design world, but WHY ON EARTH do they have to churn out stuff like this trash? The only reason so many parents buy it is because their options have shrunk drastically over the past few years to such a degree that this is the only stuff available.
Dear God, somebody, *anybody* please, knock some sense into these designers.
(went off on a bit of a tangent there. Sorry).
Comment by A Watcher — May 9, 2008 @ 4:52 pm
The line of clothing isn’t necessarily “sexy”, but it is totally inappropriate. Children should look like children, and these are just scaled down adult clothes.
I also object to the young models…I know people, even children, have to wear makeup in magazine spreads because they are being photographed. But there’s a HUGE difference between a little base and powder to tone down shine and even out skin tone, and obvious makeup designed to make these little girls look like whores.
That, and the looks. The ones in the top photo look like any pouty model selling sex in Cosmo.
Comment by k — May 9, 2008 @ 5:32 pm
I don’t think the clothes themselves are bad. Obviously, you won’t dress your kids head to toe with things from the line, and slather them in makeup and hairspray. A jacket here, or a pair of pants there, would be kinda cute actually.
The problem is in the advertising. I work in advertising, and whoever is responsible for the marketing/advertising of these clothes should be ashamed. They totally missed their mark, and realize that the over sexualization of children is NOT the way to go here. Totally creepy.
Comment by Sarah — May 10, 2008 @ 1:32 am
Somewhere, pedophiles all over the world are looking at this and thinking “Thank you, God”. Very sad.
Comment by Anon — May 10, 2008 @ 2:14 am