Shoemaker Cicciabella puts foot in it with child model

The children's footwear brand generated controversy at New York Fashion Week by using the child model Eden Wood.

It's not unheard of for New York Fashion Week to generate controversy and column inches over the creations in which designers send models down the catwalk. However, this year, setting tongues wagging was a spray-tanned, scantily-clad girl of just six, who modelled an outfit for the US children's footwear brand Cicciabella.

Performing her signature cowgirl routine, former child beauty queen Eden Wood, who shot to fame after making her debut on the reality television programme Toddlers & Tiaras, paraded in a crop top and hotpants at the sideline event.

Wood was just one of a group of rising stars modelling for the label, but her outfit in particular has drawn widespread criticism in the press from London to Sydney, as it's believed to be a direct contravention of the CFDA's (Council of Fashion Designers of America) rules about using models below the age of 16.

Speaking to People magazine, the child's mother, Mickie Wood, said: "We didn't look for these opportunities. They found us. We've been blessed and lucky ... You know, sensationalism sells and that's what it's all about."

Having won more than 300 trophies in her brief career, Eden retired from the pageant circuit earlier this year.