• Wed, Mar 14 2012

These Photos Of 12-Year-Old Kiernan Shipka Are Pushing It

Grazia recently spoke with Mad Men‘s Sally Draper, Kiernan Shipka, and the 12-year-old actress mentioned she’s so young, her parents won’t let her watch her own show. The accompanying shoot styles her in Versace and Christian Louboutins and she’s looking a bit Emma Watson with the make-up.

Look, fine, the necklines are modest and the shoes are flat… but why the hell does anyone need to Photoshop a child this much? She’s twelve. Children aren’t supposed to look eerily flawless (neither is anyone else, for that matter) but:

Also. Demerits for giving her tousled, sexy bedhead.

Now it’s only a matter of time before Marc Jacobs hails her as a “modern Lolita.”

…And then hires her to walk in his runway show.

(Daily Mail)

Share This Post:
Related Topics: Fashion • • • • •
  • Fabel

    The setting of the first photo just throws me off– why put her there? She looks fine, but the beds plus the bedhead is just, let’s say, a strange artistic choice.

  • katie

    DO NOT WANT

  • Brooke

    This is just nit-picking. She’s becoming a teenager. She’s not laying on the bed, she’s not wearing high heels, she’s a classic beauty – she will always look more photoshopped than she really is.

    • katie

      The phrased used was “pushing it.” It would be nitpicking if she said that the photos were outright inappropriate.

  • Martin

    She looks far too young to be wearing make up + sitting next to a bed in this pose.

    • Kyuss

      Agreed. Something about these photos is really uncomfortable.

  • Kit

    I can’t quite put my finger on why I don’t like this, but if I had a 12-year-old kid I’d freak out if someone photographed her like this.

    • Willow

      That’s pretty much exactly where I’m at.

    • Joanntheredhead

      Yeah. Me, too…

  • LeeLee

    she looks lovely…there’s nothing suggestive or sexual about these pictures. and if you think so, honestly, you’re way too pervy and jaded in the head…or just looking for something to criticize for lack of anything better to do.

    • Chris

      The writer didn’t say it was sexual.

      Except the hair, which is totally sexy!

    • Jasmine

      I would agree that these particular pictures look, to me, pretty innocent. She is modestly clothed; maybe the make-up is a little extreme though!

      I bet these pictures aren’t even photo-shopped though; after all she’s only 12! (These pictures bring me back to my middle school days when almost all the CLASS had flawless, porcelain skin, like a baby’s) You don’t even need MAKE-UP then, although some girls still like using it at that age! Let’s not get into how preadolescent girls can treat each other!

      I’m glad I’m not young any more!
      Jasmine

  • Jon

    not emma status…yet.

  • lornly

    If people think these pictures are bad because the girl is 12 years old and wearing makeup then you should really watch toddlers and tiaras. Those girls are 3 and 4 years old wearing more makeup and doing bathing suit contests…and as far as the “bed head” goes, girls do their hair like that all the time now.

    • Ashley Cardiff

      No one here is arguing that child beauty pageants aren’t horrible.

  • Joanntheredhead

    This is a tough one, because–this child really does look older for her age. But, overall–I’d agree with those who comment that–while the photos may not be overtly sexual–this is something just not right about them. And, that is the power of sublimation. I’d have to question why she is placed in the kind of setting she is in. Her clothing–particularly in the second photo–is really quite old for a twelve-year-old. And, the darker lighting in the photos–it looks more sophisticated–like something you’d see in “Vogue” rather than “Seventeen”…seems very “refined”. Clearly, the intent here is sophistication…and, that’s not what should be expected from a twelve-year-old. I’m sure she is a bit more mature than most preteens, given her lifestyle. But, she is still a kid. And, honestly, over-estimating the “worldliness” of a child can be just as dangerous as exploiting the naivete of one.

  • Noel

    What a bunch of prudes. Back to your knitting circles everyone.