Nepo Baby Hailey Bieber Baby T-Shirt
Hailey Bieber is aware of your comments. Friday afternoon in Los Angeles, the model and Stephen Baldwin's daughter went out sporting a "Nepo Baby" baby t-shirt. "Short for nepotism baby, the phrase has emerged as a common, somewhat disparaging way to refer to someone who has well-connected parents in their chosen field (though it's mostly applied to actors, models, and anyone who would be seen on the Oscars red carpet). Justin Bieber and her father, who is also her husband, were both referred to as "double nepos" in a recent viral magazine package from New York magazine. What else is a girl to do but proudly wear the label and a pair of low-rise jeans?
This isn’t the first time that Bieber has engaged with this particular discourse. Last year, she had Gwyneth Paltrow (who, in addition to being Gwyneth Paltrow, is the daughter of actor Blythe Danner and producer Bruce Paltrow) on her YouTube series “Who’s In My Bathroom.” The two discussed the topic. There, Paltrow voiced the more controversial opinion that children of people in the industry have to work harder than those without connections in order to prove themselves. After Paltrow said that rising children of celebrities shouldn’t limit themselves, Bieber said that she “needed to hear that today.”
Bieber joins a long list of famous people who have used clothing as a way to influence or respond to a narrative about them. It appears that Bieber is trying to own the term "nepo baby" by donning a shirt that says it; she is saying it about herself before someone else can say it for her. When Naomi Campbell was accused of hitting her housekeeper in 2006 (she pled guilty to the charges a year later), she responded by donning a sweater with the slogan "Naomi Hit Me... and I Loved It.". Anna Delvey, a purported heiress who is actually a scam artist, recently left her house while under house arrest wearing a shirt with her own face on it. Each of these leaves the viewer wondering, "are they in on the joke? "(She is banned from social media, but still knows how to stir up the platforms!) And who can forget Winona Ryder showing up at court after she was caught shoplifting a $760 Marc Jacobs cashmere sweater wearing Marc Jacobs's fall 2001 collection.
