Here comes the son

Ronnie Wood and his son Jesse Wood. Photo / Getty Images

While the daughters of actors and rock stars have been filling gossip columns for years - think of Peaches Geldof, Lily Allen and Elizabeth Jagger - some of the sons of celebrities have been quietly building up lucrative modelling careers.

Jethro Lazenby Cave, the son of Australian singer Nick Cave; Max Irons, the son of actors Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack; Jesse Wood, son of Rolling Stone Ronnie; and Louis and Claude Simonon, sons of Clash bass player Paul Simonon, are just some of the male offspring of famous parents who have been making waves in the fashion world. "On the men's side of the industry now, people are looking at guys who have an interesting story," says Kat Hencken, head of the men's division at Independent Models, which represents one of Bryan Ferry's sons, Tara, as well as Jethro Cave.

"Even if these boys don't look like their parents, more often than not they appear to have inherited a certain cool factor."

Jethro Cave was one of the standout models at the autumn/winter menswear shows at the end of June in Paris and Milan. Cave has modelled for labels such as Balenciaga, Costume National and TopShop.

During the Comme des Garcons show in Paris, his photograph appeared on websites and in newspapers when he paid tribute to Michael Jackson by writing the words "RIP Smooth Criminal" on his arm and displaying it to the audience from the catwalk.

Hencken thinks Cave's success at the menswear shows is down to his personality as much as his pedigree: "Jethro has a great distinctive personality and is a very creative guy, which immediately comes across when you meet him."

Last season, adverts for UK high street giant Mango featured Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld, 24-year-old son of the editor of French Vogue, Carine Roitfeld, and previously a model for jeanswear label Rock & Republic and for designer Marc Jacobs.

This autumn/winter, the new face of Mango menswear is Max Irons. Jesse Wood has just struck a very lucrative deal with Calvin Klein - thought to be seven figures - to model clothes and lifestyle products for the US designer.

Daughters of the rich and famous have been on the catwalks for a long time. Daisy Lowe, the daughter of Pearl Lowe and rock star Gavin Rossdale, Pixie Geldof, daughter of Bob, and Alice Dellal, whose parents are property tycoon Guy Dellal and his model wife Andrea, all made headlines recently after they moved from Select model agency to Next Model Management. Select said it had decided to axe its talent section, meaning the girls were dropped from its books.

The girls claimed it had been their choice to leave and they had not been axed. All three have starred in Agent Provocateur campaigns, while Geldof fronted adverts for New Look, and Lowe has posed for DKNY, Marc by Marc Jacobs and Pringle.

Now, it seems, the boys have come into their own. British label Burberry started the trend of using well-connected young men as models a couple of years ago with adverts that were a junior who's who - models included Wood, Cave and Irons, as well as two more of Bryan Ferry's sons, Otis and Isaac, and Sam Branson, son of entrepreneur Richard.

Francisco Costa, the creative director of Calvin Klein, and ex-Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane have moved the trend to the next level. Slimane, one of the most praised fashion designers of the past decade, has been particularly influential. Since leaving his role at Dior Homme - Isaac Ferry made his catwalk debut for the label - Slimane has forged a successful career as a photographer. As such he's been instrumental in launching the careers of a number of celebrity sons.

He was one of the first to shoot both Cave and photographer David Bailey's son Fenton, who has appeared in campaigns for Agent Provocateur and Jaeger London as well as in magazines such as British Vogue and GQ Style. Slimane shot Louis and Claude Simonon for this year's spring/summer Prada menswear campaign.

Charlie Porter, deputy editor of biannual fashion magazine Fantastic Man and fashion features editor of style magazine i-D, says the trend helps brands connect with male consumers and makes their clothes seem relevant.

"Rather than using an anonymous eastern European teenager as a model, using the offspring of the Clash or Roxy Music immediately evokes something in the clothes."

Many models have other projects that benefit from their fashion world exposure. Restoin-Roitfeld may not have modelled during New York Fashion Week in February, but he did curate a photography exhibition in the city during the shows, and the private view was full of fashion insiders such as model Gisele Bundchen, actress Mary Kate Olsen and fashion photographer Mario Testino. The event was sponsored by Louis Vuitton.

Tara Ferry has a band, Rubber Kiss Goodbye, which received critics' praise at the South by South West music festival in March, and Jesse Wood plays guitar in the band Hogg. Max Irons is following his father into acting. The 24-year-old has a role in the film Dorian Gray, released in September.

"I loved working with Mango," says Irons. "I was flattered to be asked. The clothes have a Mediterranean feel and it's nice to have that on the British high street."

It's easy to put the success of the new models down to nepotism, but the calibre of ad campaigns and catwalks featuring these famous sons means it's likely to be more than a celebrity fad.

"Family connections help open the doors to see clients," says Hencken, "but it is actually delivering the goods and doing the work that keeps their careers going. They have to work hard like any other model."

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