Lingerie for girls as young as 4 irks fashion world

A French clothing line has sparked controversy after developing a lingerie line for girls as young as four.

The fashion industry was left fuming after French label Jours Apr s Lunes launched a line of lingerie.

According to Fashionista, scantily clad young girls wearing make-up and sporting voluminous upswept hairdos are featured promoting a new range of lingerie.

'Loungerie' - combining lingerie and lounge wear, Jours Apr s Lunes line up a range of panties, bras, camisoles and T-shirts with lace edges, ribboned bow detailing and nautical stripes for girls between the ages of 4 to 12.

The pictures show the young girls in risque poses and styling way too premature for their age, wearing striped bras and panties, playing with make-up, jewellery and a string of pearls wrapped around their miniscule frames.

In one of the shots, a girl wearing Jackie O-style sunglasses lounges back on a pillow, her reverence shielded merely by panties and a cropped polka dot tied top, with another shot showing three young girls playing together, their hair done in Amy Winehouse style and lips painted bright pink and red.

"What's disturbing about Jours Apr s Lunes is... that it's lingerie for people who probably shouldn't be old enough to even know what lingerie is," the Daily Mail quoted Fashionista as saying.

"These pictures are not cute. It's entirely inappropriate to put a four-year-old in a bouffant like she's Brigitte Bardot," the magazine added.

"It's cute when a little girl dresses up in her mom's clothing and jewelry and high heels," Marilisa Racco, author of Le Snob Lingeries told NY Daily News.

"These pictures are not cute. It's entirely inappropriate to put a 4-year-old in a bouffant like she's Brigitte Bardot in And God Created Woman.

"It's inappropriate to sexualize children. A pearl-encrusted triangle bra on a little girl does not sit well with me," she added.