In Paris last week, the honor of the final exit at the Chanel couture show — the one every model wants to walk — was bestowed on a fresh-faced young woman, strolling down the circular runway in a long pink dress. A coronation of sorts, it marked her as a new face of the brand and favorite of designer Karl Lagerfeld. “Her” being Lily-Rose Depp, the daughter of actress-singer Vanessa Paradis, a former face of the brand, and Johnny Depp.

As it happens, Lily-Rose Depp’s appearance at Chanel followed fast on the heels of Burberry’s announcement that it had chosen Iris Law, the daughter of Jude Law and Sadie Frost, as the new face of its makeup line Liquid Lip Velvet, as well as the appearance of Lennon Gallagher, the son of Liam Gallagher, the Oasis frontman, and Patsy Kensit, on the Topman runway during London Fashion Week Mens. Not to mention the announcement that Frances Bean Cobain, the daughter of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, was the star of the new Marc Jacobs ads. Plus that Jimmy Freud, the son of Bella Freud, was featured in the new issue of Love magazine.

And it presaged the release this week of a new Gap video campaign featuring Rumer Willis (daughter of Demi Moore), TJ Mizell (son of Jam Master Jay), Coco Gordon (daughter of Kim Gordon), Lizzy Jagger (daughter of Mick Jagger), Chelsea Tyler (daughter of Steven Tyler) and Evan Ross (son of Diana Ross) — all of whose famous forebears once upon a time also made their own Gap ads.

Given that the title is “Generation Gap,” and the clothes being worn are all reissued updated versions of 15 staple Gap pieces of the ’90s that their respective parents wore — the black bodysuit, the sleeveless tee, the logo sweatshirt — the connection makes a certain amount of sense. But it also may signal the second, institutionalized phase of what has become a bona fide cross-border fashion phenomenon.

“We call it the ‘children of,’” said Stefano Tonchi, the editor of W, who happened to have just shot Brandon Thomas Lee (son of Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson) and Nyima Ward (the model Trish Goff’s son) among others for the April issue.

Never before have so many children of famous parents been so celebrated and rewarded for their lineage, and so willing to publicly embrace it. IMG Models alone has more than 25 “children of” on its books, including the latest name, Dylan Brosnan, son of Pierce (also Ethan Peck, grandson of Gregory, and Alessandra Garcia, stepdaughter of Andy).

What began with a few random mini-mes (the Jagger kids, Keith Richards’ girls), and picked up steam when Dolce & Gabbana replaced its usual celebrity front row with a millennial children-of front row (and billed it that way), can no longer be dismissed as a coincidence or even a fad.

“It has become a profession to be the son or daughter of a celebrity,” Tonchi said.

And that means we cannot dismiss the associated implications about the end of the meritocracy, and our own complicity — or what Ivan Bart, president of IMG Models, calls “obsession” — therein. Despite the public hoo-ha about nepotism engendered by the recent election, the palpable discomfort with political dynasties and the ambiguity around Ivanka Trump’s role, when it comes to what sells, apparently, lineage matters.

This is not to say, of course, that lineage is the only reason these NextGen names are having a moment. They are all attractive. They are generally talented, most forging their own artistic paths in a variety of areas, in music, art and film. They often have large social media followings. But there’s no getting around the fact that their current profile, especially in the fashion world, seems somewhat out of proportion to their achievements thus far.

Their X factor is their parentage; it’s what makes them stand out from the crowd of other attractive, talented peers (and is used in all of the marketing materials). But the Y factor — and this is what’s interesting — is that they are perfectly happy not only to acknowledge it but also to leverage it.

Whereas once upon a time children of famous parents might have changed their surnames in order to prove themselves (see: Angelina Jolie, Emilio Estevez) or even rejected their parents choices, this generation is happy to assume the mantle.

After all, if we’re going to be so fascinated by celebrity, and what it may have been like to grow up with celebrity parents — if we’re going to snap pictures of the children eating ice cream and at the park (celebs! they’re just like us!) from the time they are little, and feel, somehow, that we know them because we know their parents — why shouldn’t they use that to their own advantage?

“Regardless of what we do in life, every article starts with ‘daughter of,’” Rumer Willis said over the phone from the set of “Empire,” discussing her participation in the Gap ad. “We were all talking about it during the Gap shoot. You can fight that, or accept it and appreciate it. Personally, I love the idea of being a part of something my parents were part of but putting my own spin on it.”

Evan Ross agreed. “I don’t chafe against it,” he said. “I’m proud of it. We had the Gap ad with my mother and sister blown up in our house in Greenwich growing up.”

They are the celebrity equivalent of the millennials who move back and stay with their parents, which is perhaps why both the millennials and the parents can relate. Indeed, it’s not just about the children. As Tonchi points out, there has been a change in the social acceptance of “family,” an incorporation of the formerly private into the public narrative. Children have become part of a parent’s identity, both professionally and personally, in a way they never were before.

As a result, many brands see in this generation an opportunity to, effectively, double dip with their consumer base; to reach two markets with one name. According to Craig Brommers, the chief marketing officer for Gap (who also said not one “child of” who was invited to be part of the ad turned it down), they effectively act as a bridge between Generations X and Z, between those who remember their parents, and grew up with them, and those who follow the children on social media. Either way, they have an allure a nonpedigreed model does not.

“We’ve had a lot of brands from Cindy’s past approach us about Kaia,” Bart of IMG Models said, referring to Cindy Crawford and her daughter, model Kaia Gerber. “They feel they have a history with the family.”

This creates, he went on, a ready-made back story that forms a narrative we all know — and maybe more important, buy.

“It’s authentic heritage,” said Mandi Lennard, the founder of Mandi’s Basement, a brand consultancy. That sounds kind of absurd, but “authenticity of any kind is what you need to engage people today,” she said.

Or even to make it onto a buzzy party list. According to Lennard, the NextGen are among the most coveted guests at any event. Sometimes they bring their parents on their arm.

Still, Bart rejects the idea that simply being a “child of” is enough for anyone to make the leap to a bona fide marketable personality in his or her own right. “There have to be celebs out there that have children that don’t get approached,” he said.

He may be right. But given the fact that every day another example seems to land in the inbox — the latest being Dylan Bleue Murphy, daughter of the Estée Lauder model Carolyn Murphy, who is featured with her mother in a new Lauder fragrance ad scheduled to break in September — it’s hard to imagine who it might be.

© 2017 The New York Times Company