Berlutti

PARIS, Jan 21, (Agencies): They are fashion’s new celebrity aristocracy, the sons and daughters of stars who are themselves becoming the kings and queens of the catwalk shows.From Lily-Rose Depp and Will Smith’s daughter Willow — the faces of Chanel — to the Beckham boys and Sylvester Stallone’s two daughters modelling for Dolce & Gabbana, celebrity offspring are luxury labels’ new not-so-secret weapon.With their huge followings on social media and instant name-recognition, these millennials born in the limelight have become the perfect avatars for advertising campaigns.British actor Jude Law’s daughter Iris is the new face of Burberry having followed her brother Rafferty in modelling, while the daughters of singer Lionel Richie, Cindy Crawford and even Bob Dylan’s grandson have all embarked on catwalk careers.Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris turned up in the French capital this week for a photo shoot, adding her name to a bulging celebrity model roll call that includes the daughter of Oasis singer Noel Gallagher, the son of Isabelle Adjani and Daniel Day-Lewis, the daughter of Nastassja Kinski and Quincy Jones, and the sons of Sean Penn and Pierce Brosnan.The list is endless and seemingly inexhaustible, with marketing experts maintaining that young consumers cannot get enough of celebrity dynasties.You just have to look at the Kardashians, said Gachoucha Kretz, professor of fashion marketing at the HEC business school in Paris, to see how the model works.They have converted their reality television fame into fashion hard currency, with Kim Kardashian and her half sister Kendall Jenner now established stars of the firmament, their every wardrobe choice scrutinised on social media.Brands hope to piggyback on “the popular fascination with these tribes and families”, Kretz said.With no problem about name recognition “there is much less marketing to do”, she added. “The associations are already created”.With their Instagram or Twitter endorsements of their favoured brands, they become the ultimate “influencers” to help push demand.Aged only 17, Brooklyn Beckham has nine million followers on Instagram. After two years as a model he has branched out into fashion photography, shooting an advertising campaign for Burberry this summer that made headlines around the world.Even fashion’s biggest players are happy to play along with the family fame game. Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld, for instance, has been a enthusiastic nepotist, hiring Depp, Smith and Jenner, and taking former supermodel Ines de la Fressange’s daughter Violette d’Urso as his muse.“The tabloids and celebrity magazines love these famous families and that assures media coverage,” said Aurore Gorius, co-author of a French book “Sons and Daughters of …”.The year 2016 will long be remembered for the sheer number of high-profile talents who suddenly passed away.The fashion world did not escape this grim trend, being stunned in December when lauded Vogue Italia Editor Franca Sozzani died after battling a yearlong illness.Sozzani was among the fashion industry’s most familiar faces, having led the Italian magazine for a formidable 28 years.Friday marked new beginnings for the iconic magazine — a topic that filled front row chatter at Paris Fashion Week.Parent company Conde Nast announced in a communique that former GQ magazine director Emanuele Farneti will take over the role at Vogue Italia and L’Uomo Vogue.It praised the Italian-born fashion director’s proven expertise, admiration within the industry and talent.A pared down decor meant that Maison Margiela’s fall-winter show was all about the clothes.This humble attitude was no bad thing in an industry where rushed, sky’s-the-limit presentations increasingly overpower the artistry of the clothes — the very reason fashionistas attend the shows in the first place.Continuing a go-to theme for the quirky house, the leitmotif in the brief 21 looks was, as the house termed it, “a quiet celebration of the unfinished garment”.Frayed cords, unfurling hems, long waistcoats with no undergarment, unfinished prints and faded jeans transposed a nice crude look.Raw materials added to this — such as calico, dry cotton, upholstery velvet, distressed tweeds and denim.Call it minimalism mixed with a faint tirade of irony against the pressurized, fast-paced industry.Juun J. presented a flamboyant fall-winter collection — in the grand Rive Gauche stone hall of Paris’ Universite Rene Descartes.The South Korean designer used Friday to present an archive-inspired show that traced his collections through the past 10 years.Signature styles — oversize silhouettes, flattened torsos, military wear, gangster-like pin stripes and trench coats — were in abundance.And women modeling the looks, as well as men, drove home a sense of androgyny in the designs.Some fashionistas pointed and commented on the myriad straps and tassels gently flapping from voluminous rucksacks like balletic ribbons.With its 43 looks, the collection nicely fused the concept of the utilitarian with a stylish delicacy.