It’s Nepo Baby Week, Not Fashion Week

The controversy continues

Curious about the hottest trends from this season’s Fashion Week? Florals? Lace? Think again—this year’s dominant trend wasn’t a fabric or style, but rather…nepotism.

Yes, you read that correctly. The spotlight was firmly on the rising wave of nepo babies strutting the runway, from Nicole Kidman’s daughter to Romeo Beckham. Forget the designs—media attention was fixated on the latest generation of famous family connections taking centre stage.

Here’s all of the Nepo babies you might not be aware of that walked the runway at this year’s fashion week.

Sunday Rose Kidman Urban

… Well, that’s quite a mouthful. Sunday Rose, daughter of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, took the internet by storm following her Fashion Week debut, where she opened for Miu Miu.

It’s practically every model’s lifelong dream to open a show in Fashion Week, and this girl makes her debut by opening a show for one of the biggest brands in the world… seems fair? Not exactly.

 

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A post shared by Miu Miu (@miumiu)

The internet had a field day with this debut, to say the least. Many wondered if it was a clever marketing tactic by Miu Miu. It seems to be a common trend for many of Miu Miu’s shows to give the opening walk to a nepo baby.

Lila Moss opened her first runway show for Miu Miu back in 2021, and once again, it stirred a lot of controversy but, conveniently, also garnered a significant amount of media attention for the brand. Could this be a deliberate strategy to globalise the show and get people talking? Perhaps.

Romeo Beckham

The 22-year-old son of Victoria and David Beckham made his runway debut at the Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2025 show, donning a polo shirt and baggy jeans.

Being the son of one of the world’s most famous celebrity couples certainly has its perks, allowing Romeo to seamlessly transition from professional footballer to runway model at just 22. Following in his father’s footsteps, Romeo initially played professionally for Arsenal before turning his attention to his mother’s industry—fashion.

 

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However, this isn’t Romeo’s first venture into fashion; he has modelled for the likes of Burberry and YSL since he was just 10 years old.

It will be interesting to see where this newfound interest in fashion takes him next. Could he follow in his mother’s footsteps and try his hand at designing clothes? Who knows what the future holds when you’re a nepo baby with endless career opportunities.

Other nepo babies who made their fashion week debuts this year include Christy Turlington’s daughter, Grace Burns, and Brooke Shields’ daughter, Grier Henchy.

Grace, at 20, and Grier, at 18, have both embraced the fashion world wholeheartedly. Regardless of their abilities, these young women attract significant attention and business for brands, thanks to the enduring fame of their mothers.

 

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A post shared by GRACE burns (@graciebrns)

Although Brooke and Christy have retired from modelling, their influence remains as powerful as ever, with their daughters now stepping into the industry — and finding it far less challenging this time around. 

Many fashion enthusiasts have taken to the internet to express their frustration with the ongoing obsession with nepotism in the fashion industry. The world of fashion is, to say the least, tough, so seeing these newcomers land opportunities that most models can only dream of on their first attempt is understandably disheartening.

A model took to TikTok to express her frustration with her career progression, stating, “I’m leaving my second season in Milan empty-handed after months of hard work,” due to ‘nepo models’ securing a disproportionate number of modelling gigs.

@emmcgrail_ This isnt me complaining. I can take it on the chest that this just wasnt my season. I’m simply saying we work si hard as models to prepare for fashion week just for our spots to be handed over to people that have never had ti work as hard as we do 🙂🙃 p.s im Manchester based but looking for a solid London agency ti reallt push me sooo if there’s any lovely agencies out there plz get in touch 🤩 i promise im a hard worker xoxox #milanmodel #internationalmodel #modelling #scoutme #fyp #stormmodels #milkmodels #boundarylondon #selectmodels #fyp #model #fashionweek ♬ Dirty Cash (Money Talks) – Sold Out 7 Inch Mix – Adventures Of Stevie V

The video garnered over 550,000 likes, highlighting that it’s not just models who are frustrated with nepotism’s hold on the fashion industry.

The days of 90s supermodels, who often came from working-class backgrounds and rose to fame on their own merits rather than through family connections, seems long gone unfortunately.

Words by Cillian Murphy

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