I’ve always secretly longed for the days when supermodels weren’t entirely emaciated and preparing for runway shows by exclusively ingesting consecutive weeks of protein shakes. So in other words, I really miss the decades when Cindy Crawford was a successful, big-time runway model. Of course, Cindy is now 45 and has, sadly, resigned herself to a face full of botox and fillers when in actuality she’d probably look far better without all of that fakery. Such a shame. At any rate, Cindy is now preparing to pass the torch to her daughter, 10-year-old Kaia Gerber (her father is Cindy’s husband, Randy, heir to the Gerber fortune), who has just completed her very first advertising campaign for Young Versace (see preview above).

Initially, I hesitated before covering this story since someone eloquently labelled me as “old” after I questioned whether Dakota Fanning was too young to pose on the cover of Cosmo alongside headlines such as “His Best Sex Ever” and “Um, Vagina, Are You Okay Down There?” at the relatively tender age of 17. Yes, I am a 36-year-old woman. Is that so shameful?

At any rate, Kaia is much younger than Dakota and perhaps obscenely young for the world of modelling. Hell, Kaia is even younger than 13-year old Lottie Moss (sister of Kate), who recently appeared in her very first Storm Management portfolio. However, I question whether it is inevitable whether gorgeous Kaia would eventually become a model anyway, so — let’s face it — what’s the big deal?

Like mother, like daughter!

Kaia Gerber, Cindy Crawford’s 10-year-old daughter, has landed her first fashion campaign — and it’s none other than Versace.

Kaia is the first face of Young Versace, the designer’s children’s line geared at kids 0-12. The modeling gig is extra special given the fact that Cindy was a well-known muse of Gianni Versace.

“Like her mother, Kaia has a very special gift. The camera really, really loves her,” Donatella Versace, Creative Director of Versace, said. “Having Cindy on-set for the shoot took me back to all the amazing Avedon shoots we worked on together. It was such a special treat watching Kaia walk in her mother’s footsteps!”

Judging from the first photo to release, Kaia is a natural in front of the camera rocking a cropped leather jacket and a high-waist skirt and she even manages to make socks and sandals look good together!

[From Yahoo!]

Speaking as a mother, this is a really tough call to make. My first instinct is to question whether Cindy is jumping the gun by tossing her 10-year-old daughter into the modeling ring, but it’s quite clear that Cindy is also present on the shoot to make sure that nothing inappropriate goes down. Obviously, Cindy knows the drill, and she knows that photographers will often try to make their subjects do inappropriate things just because they can. In other words, Kaia will probably never be photographed by Terry Richardson. I feel like Cindy knows best in this regard and will safeguard her daughter at least until the age of majority or emancipation.

However, my real question is this — does the outfit represented (and worn by Kaia) in the header photograph accurely represent the stated 0-12 audience? No preteen that I’ve ever known would ever be allowed to wear a skirt that short.

Here’s Cindy, her husband Randy Gerber, and Kaia shopping in Malibu on 12/4/11. In these photos especially, Kaia looks so much like her mother.

And here are Cindy, Rande, and Kaia in Cabo, Mexico on 11/27/11. This was one of the vacations in which Cindy met up with with George Clooney and Stacy Keibler. With these photos in mind, I do not look forward to the day that my daughter asks to wear a bikini.

Photos courtesy of Fame and Versace