Aren’t they as bad as they seem? Author of Telegram channel “Evil Kitty Fashion Chronicles” talks about how nepo dolls have helped brands make millions

For more than two months, the whole world has been discussing the phenomenon of nepo baby. According to tradition, the craze began with a scandal, the main character of which was Lily-Rose Depp, the daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis. In an interview with Elle magazine, the model said that she achieved success not because of her famous parents, but because of her own business. “It’s strange to reduce a person’s success to just the idea that he was born into the right family. This makes no sense, “said she. That’s when the” show “started, and numerous accusations from self-made models.

Soon after, New York Magazine drew attention to the situation and published an issue with a sarcastic cover that flattered the major nepo dolls of our time. And the release was accompanied by the biting expression: “She has her mother’s eyes. And an agent. Hailey Bieber has also caught a wave of all-encompassing hype going for a walk with a minimalist printed Nepo Baby tee. The irony was appreciated by everyone without exception.

Since the issue of nepotism and nepotism has not settled down so far, we decided to look at it from a different angle and find out how nepo dolls are helping brands make millions. For help, we turned to the author of the Telegram channel “Evil Kitty Fashion Chronicles”. Let’s give it to him!

Recently, the concept of “nepotism” has become more common. The word was used in the Middle Ages when popes trying to strengthen their own positions gave their illegitimate children and nephews the highest church positions, such as cardinal hats. Alexander made his son Cesare a cardinal, and Pope Paul III made his grandchildren. Nepotism reached its heyday in the Renaissance, when the papal institution de facto merged with the Italian principalities for a time. It got to the point where all the papal dynasties such as Borghese, Medici, Borgia emerged. This confusion only stopped after Pope Innocent XII’s order that there could only be a nepot in the College of Cardinals. Nepotism in the church disappeared in the 19th century. However, the concept itself remained: it is now called “the act of using power or influence to obtain a good job or unfair advantages for members of your own family,” according to the Cambridge Dictionary.

In modern Russian, the word “nepotism” has predominantly negative connotations: in our country, this phenomenon is often called favoritism or blat. However, as is often the case, something that seems extremely negative to the average person actually has important, one might say, structure-forming functions.

You have to understand that a child is also a kind of content, albeit very specific. After all, raising a child, shaping his soul is not only a long and very difficult task, but also a process that requires an important creative component, emotional investment. And not only does the parent perceive their child as their creation, a similar perspective extends to those around them, especially when it comes to celebrities. The public wants to consume this type of content like any other.

Milla Jovovich, who ceased to amaze with her roles and modeling work when everyone was bored with her image, created something that stands out with her novelty – her daughter, Ever Anderson. The audience sees in it both an extension of Milla herself, a way to prolong her enjoyment, and something completely new at the same time. So there is an opportunity to enter new markets, find new advertisers.

Baby Jovovich was featured on the cover of Vogue Bambini at the age of nine, just as her mother’s career took off. Everin is now 15 years old and is on the cover of V Magazine’s youth supplement Mini V.

And soon he should make his first film – in the fantasy “Peter Pan and Wendy”. Many people who see Everyn Anderson on screen will see Milla’s traits in her. So it’s here, it’s not going anywhere. She lives because her creation is in demand, it delights the viewer, it’s capitalized. In other words, nepotism is one of the forms of protection of symbolic capital, one’s protest against aging and even death in a sense.

Nepotism is also beneficial for big brands: instead of promoting new names, they invest in those that are already symbolically charged because parents’ names are on everyone’s lips. Further capital only needs to be multiplied.

Take the classic neopo boy Leni Klum. She is the daughter of popular model Heidi Klum. In 2022, 17 lazy Leni became the first Dior Beauty Ambassador from Germany.

At that age, Heidi began contracting with SPAR supermarket McDonald’s advertising candy. It’s clearly a luxury segment where Dior Beauty is much higher in level. Leni is ahead of her own mother and brands will do their best to make the most of her youth.

In some cases it is possible to combine a brand that is independent of the surname. The Baldwin family, a Hollywood dynasty that includes actors Alec and Stephen Baldwin, as well as the latter’s youngest daughter Hailey, the model and Justin Bieber’s wife (of course, a dynastic marriage) is working in this direction.

Hailey Bieber’s name comes up frequently when discussing vivid examples of nepotism. The girl even decided to make fun of herself by wearing a T-shirt with this word written on it. She probably tried to do something similar to what the LGBT community did with the word queer, and appropriated it as slang for she. Using the example of Hayley, you can see that all members of her family try to engage in similar activities, so that due to the cumulative effect it will be possible to maximize the revenue of the Baldwin brand. His father and uncle are actors. My mother is a designer. Grandfather Eumir Deodato is a composer who also worked with Björk. This, like all of the above, is included in America’s creative landscape.

Meanwhile, Hayley’s older sister Alaya is also a model. True, much less successful. Alaya is listed at a traditional modeling agency, while Hayley works at a top IMG Models, which also collaborates with the Hadid sisters. While collaborating with Alaya, Porter, Harper’s Bazaar and Grazia magazines, Haley chose Guess and Adidas as her ambassadors.

But in many ways, Alaya’s achievements in the modeling field were acquired social connections that ensured the rapid rise of her younger sister: before that, she did not have special connections with the rather closed ones, despite the fact that the Baldwin family belonged to the privileged strata. fashion world.

At the same time, it is naive to believe that the status of a star’s lineage means tolerance from all sins. On the contrary, the opposite is true: the public makes particularly high demands on non-children. So, Sofia Coppola, daughter of Francis Ford Coppola, was literally hunted for her role in The Godfather 3, and as a result, the girl returned to the cinema only ten years later and as a director. And only at the expense of hard and long work, Sofia, “the daughter of the same Coppola”, managed to become one of the main rulers of the generation.

Nepotism provides an initial advantage, but you have to pay for it by bearing the brunt of other people’s expectations. It pulls many to the ground, but only warns some. This is the case of Timothée Chalamet, for example. It is customary to refer to him as a non-child: Timothy’s sister is actress Pauline Chalamet and uncle is actor and director Rodman Flender. Her aunt was television producer and screenwriter Amy Lippman, and her grandfather was writer and screenwriter Harold Flender. But Timothy managed to achieve much more success than all his relatives combined. Chalamet was exiled from a very young age, receiving a special education.

In addition to major roles in Woody Allen and Luca Guadagnino, the actor collaborated with the Cartier jewelry house. Also, the luxurious Berluti made her her face. But despite all the success, Timothée Chalamet continues to hone her acting skills, choosing more and more difficult roles. Currently, the 27-year-old actress is considered one of the most talented artists of her generation.

Thus, nepotism is not an overtly negative phenomenon in itself – it is just one of many forms of protecting and raising symbolic capital associated with its own risks. The benefits such children receive are balanced by the weight of other people’s hopes and responsibilities not only to themselves but also to their parents. If the institution of reputation is functioning properly and there are many channels of vertical mobility in a society, nepotism does not lead to the formation of the so-called “glass ceiling” and remains only one of many options for self-actualization.