A 5-year-old girl from Nigeria is taking the internet by storm with her beauty. Photographer Mofe Bamuyiwa shared photos of Jare Ijalana. Since they were posted to social media last week, they’ve received over 70,000 likes and shares. People have made comments like, “beautiful,” “absolutely stunning,” and “doll-like.”
The little girl has lustrous full hair, mesmerizing eyes, and a smooth complexion.
The photographer said: “CHILDREN ARE A GIFT FROM HEAVEN. I’m pretty excited and elated about my new style of child portraiture. Before I thought of Photographing the @the_j3_sisters, I have had frivolous ideas of how I can make artsy portraits of kids And do away from the norm. The opportunity came, and I had to take a bold step to express my ideas of how I want to take portraits of kids. I want to portray the interception between her childhood and adulthood, so both stay timeless! We continue to the next post.”
The photos are more captivating or perhaps alarming because the little girl strikes adultlike poses, more mature for a child of any age.
“I want to portray the interception between her childhood and adulthood so both stay timeless!” Bamuyiwa captioned one of the shots. “I could have made her smile and make her laugh out loud, but I put her in their natural moments for us to see through their eyes!”
“Jare isn’t a professional model,” Bamuyiwai told Yahoo Lifestyle. “All I want is for everyone to see Jare’s powerful potential. … I want the photo to speak to her when she has reached her adulthood.”
Jare isn’t the only beauty in her family. Her two older sisters, Jomi, 7, and Joba, 10, photograph well. They also have “striking features,” and character as well.
“Asides [sic] that [Jomi] is bright and beautiful, she is very coordinated and every pose directed, she did better than I told her to do. She definitely has buttressed and given me more proof that every little girl dreams of being a woman,” Bamuyiwai wrote in the picture’s Instagram caption.
Jare isn’t the first girl to be given this title. Back in 2011, 6-year-old French model Thylane Blondeau took the world by storm when she appeared in a Vogue Paris supplement titled Vogue Enfants. wearing high heels and adoring a face of makeup. The feminist website, Jezebel, called the photo shoot, “purposefully, knowingly disturbing.” the little girl had been walking the runway since she was four.
“I understand that this could seem shocking. I admit I myself was shocked during the photo shoot,” her mother Véronika Loubry said in defense of the pictures. “But let me be precise: the only thing that shocked me is that the necklace she wore was worth €3 million!”
While her photos racked up tens of thousands of likes from people on Facebook, others didn’t agree with the message of rating or labeling a child’s beauty.
Nevertheless, the girl’s modeling career has blossomed. She has since signed with IMG Models. She has appeared in several magazines, including Teen Vogue and Jalouse magazine where she appeared on the cover. She’s walked the runways for major fashion houses like Chanel, Lacoste, Ralph Lauren, and Dolce & Gabbana. She’s also become the spokesperson for L’Oreal Paris.