The conversation about nepo babies has been going on for a long time — but it found a resurgence in Sunday Rose Kidman-Urban‘s recent runway debut. The daughter of the beloved actress Nicole Kidman and country icon Keith Urban was just one of the many models walking the runway at Paris Fashion Week, but fans couldn’t get over the fact that it was blatantly clear she was there because of her parents’ fame.
Many breaking stars got in thanks to their parents’ last names and barely brought anything to the table, and although nepo babies are all around us — think your regular job, politics, and the medical system — it’s the entertainment giants’ progeny who people feel like they can slam freely.
Although there is a big list of nepo babies who have shown enough talent beyond their well-known families that audiences grew to love them, but the conversation sparked by Kidman-Urban’s Paris Fashion Week outing, which is going viral on social media, has been less than encouraging.
Sunday Rose’s Bambi runway walk has everyone in fits
Don’t get me wrong — Sunday Rose seems like an adorable person. Every interview with the 16-year-old proves she seems to be a down-to-earth, nice human who doesn’t seem to take advantage of her last name. She’s also beautiful, and starting a career as a model seems tailor-made for her, especially as the elegant Nicole Kidman is her mother.
However, the internet is upset for various reasons. One of them is that her runway debut wasn’t at a random event for some random brand. It was at Paris Fashion Week for Miu Miu. Sunday Rose not only walked the show, but she opened it.
On top of that, her walk gave more limping gazelle vibes than professional model. A runway walk is a defining statement for a model, which has to ooze elegance and poise, not only highlighting the clothing they wear, but also being graceful in their movements. The 16-year-old, unfortunately, didn’t have any of that. For some historical context, here’s a snippet demonstrating the legendary runway walk of Shalom Harlow, often regarded as one of the best runway-walkers in fashion history.
Of course, Sunday Rose is still young, she could’ve been nervous, and she has a lot of time to learn how to find her signature walk, but that’s not the problem. The problem is she got a big gig with zero experience, unlike the countless hours of practice and skill-building a regular model puts in. With so many models striving to make it, who consider a runway debut at Fashion Week a major career accomplishment, Sunday Rose didn’t just get her foot in the door, she got her wobbly left leg followed by the right all the way to the center of the action.
Naturally, the online comments weren’t kind — not that they were mean to Sunday Rose herself, but critical of the industry. “Her first runway AND opens the show? this is insane,” wrote a fan. “Like??? Why don’t they get lessons… they have so much MONEY,” asked a user with one of the most-liked comments. “They are gonna say ‘it’s her signature walk,'” said another. “It’s giving North West as Simba,” recalled another, regarding the controversy of having Kim Kardashian’s oldest kid take a lead role in The Lion King anniversary concert at the Hollywood Bowl.
While Nicole Kidman got some controversy herself after people thought there was a tense moment between her and Salma Hayek, there’s nothing compared to the backlash she is getting after Sunday Rose’s runway debut.
It’s safe to say that Miu Miu accomplished what it wanted, though — getting people to talk about the brand. The fact that the chatter around Sunday Rose Kidman-Urban’s runway debut is negative is nothing to write home about, as the fashion house still got the needed bump in publicity. As for Sunday Rose, she might use the constructive criticism to blow us all away on her next walk, which you know is coming.