Forever young

Bitter old person berates the state of today's youth: it's one of the oldest cliches known to man. Which is why it was so painful for me to realise recently that I was becoming one of those cynical old people who passed judgment on the bevy of hot young things that populate the fashion industry I work in. The young models. The wannabe fashion writers desperate to get a job as "glamorous" as mine. The 15-year-old girls at fashion parties being photographed wearing head-to-toe designer clothes, shoes and accessories (how do they afford it?). Earnest young designers who talk about deep and complex inspirations when, really, they're just making clothes.

Um, where did all these young people come from, and when did I become so old?

Fashion has always loved pretty young girls, it always will - just as it will always have a penchant for skinnier models over curvaceous ones. But this obsession with youth seems to have gone into overdrive recently.

There's Tavi of course, the 13-year-old fashion blogger and self-proclaimed "dork" obsessed with Rei Kawakubo. She is adorable, winning over high-profile fans like Marc Jacobs and the sisters behind Rodarte, appearing on the cover of the latest Pop and being seated front row at New York Fashion Week last month.

Adorable, yes, but is it natural for a 13-year-old to be so obsessed with fashion and is it appropriate for a 13-year-old to wear spike-heeled ankle boots? The same could be asked of the young models who parade down the runways: is it really appropriate for teenage girls to be selling clothes to more mature women, the ones who actually buy the clothes that are on display?

It's not just models either: the media's fascination with "new style icons" continues to focus on those in their teens (except for the token article every six months or so that ambitiously proclaims that older women are the new style icons).

Actress Emma Watson is only 19 and already considered a fashionista; she recently appeared in a campaign for Burberry. The latest issue of British Vogue features an assortment of stylish precocious young things banging on about their personal style - 16-year-old model Tali Lennox (her mum is Annie Lennox), 19-year-old internet celebrity Cory Kennedy, 17-year-old actress Kaya Scodelario, who plays Effy in Skins. Peaches and Pixie Geldof, 20 and 19 respectively, are proclaimed as "style heroines" and covergirl Georgia Jagger, 17, lauded as "fashion's new bombshell".

Katie Grand's highly anticipated second issue of Love magazine was dedicated entirely to youth, with no one over the age of 21 featured throughout - think Taylor Swift, 19, Miley Cyrus, 16, Taylor Momsen, 16, and Coco Sumner, 19 (her daddy is Sting). Charles Guislain also features in a fashion spread; he is a 16-year-old Parisian boy with a icy blond crop and incredible androgynous wardrobe who has caught the eye of street-style photographers and writer Diane Pernet. He's one of those kids who frequents fashion shows looking fabulous; one day he wants to be a designer. Grand described Love in her editor's letter as an homage to the "new wave of teenage talent that is taking over the American mainstream". It seems kind of ironic that the back page features a Louis Vuitton ad with the youth-obsessed 51-year-old Madonna.

But oh, it's not just teenagers - how about toddlers? Gossip magazines have an almost unhealthy obsession with Suri Cruise and her wardrobe. "Suri in high heels: she's growing up too fast!" "Suri wears Trelise Cooper!" "Suri gets a hair cut!" At least one newspaper columnist has called the 3-year-old a style icon, and there's even a blog dedicated to following and dissecting her daily outfits.

"I'm sure I am not alone in thinking that all this sartorial attention is a bit creepy and premature.

And how about little Diva Davanna (real name Davanna Booker), the model with a fierce runway walk that rivals that of Tyra Banks. Banks featured her in an episode of the new season of America's Next Top Model (currently screening in the US), where she taught the contestants a thing or two about walking the runway. She's 9 years old.

The Australian media has got in on the act recently, with debate and stories proclaiming that chainstore tween fashion is "too revealing" and "age inappropriate". Of course, what's appropriate and inappropriate is all subjective, but a new store in Newmarket, called Sub/15, is focusing on the tween market with, "practical and age-appropriate clothing for the awkward age group". That's 10 to 15-year-olds. The Nuffield St store sells items from brands like Wayne Cooper Kids and Bauhaus Kids.

Of course, fashion has always been obsessed with youth. Twiggy was 16 when she first started modelling, Kate Moss was 15 when she first appeared on the cover of The Face, as was Lily Cole when she got her big break in Italian Vogue. Brooke Shields caused controversy in 1980 when at the age of 14 she became the youngest model ever to feature on the cover of Vogue - and uttered the famous line about nothing coming between her and her Calvins. So is it really a "new wave of teenage talent", or are we just more aware of it now because there are magazine's dedicated to it and a 13-year-old blogging about her fashion week adventures?

And though it's easy to be scornful of all this wide-eyed passion for fashion, it's also important to celebrate the openness that comes with being young. As Love put it, it's about celebrating, "people caught in that moment of freedom and chaos when they have outgrown their 24-hour parental supervision, but are still gloriously innocent of the mundane responsibilities of adulthood".