What do you think about the rise of pre-teen models?

It’s a fashion shoot that was published several months ago in France, but the provocative shots of 10-year-old French model Thylane Loubry Blondeau in French Vogue are continuing to garner press attention and criticism in the UK and US after they were used in a discussion about pre-teen sexualisation on the Good Morning America show last week.

The shoot, which appears in the Tom Ford edited December 2010 edition of French Vogue, features young children, including 10-year-old Thylane, in slinky heels and low-cut designer dresses, dripping in expensive gold jewellery, reclining on tiger-skins and a chaise lounge. This has left many questioning the tastefulness of the shoot, with some condemning the images as indecent.

Thylane’s mother inititally spoke out to defend the shoot but has since only further highlighted the issue at hand, by stating on Facebook that she wants to protect her daughter from this scandal, as ‘she’s so young’, before closing her Facebook page down earlier this week.