Disney and Gap or Dolce and Gabbana- David Kai
Kid fashion has always been open to new ideas, style and statements. Interestingly what I understand about fashion and style doesn’t come from a degree in psychology and fashion. My experience comes from my own observations of 16 years during hours and hours spent wandering the malls of America as well as reading up on the latest fashion trends in GQ, Teen Vouge, and InStyle. But over time what was once considered inappropriate has transformed.
Kids enjoy wearing things that are bright, cool and sometimes far more mature then they are ready for. Sometimes parents who are busy with paying the bills, working don’t notice how quickly their kid’s style changes from cute and adorable preteen. Many times it’s difficult for parents to find age appropriate clothes that will last more than one season, especially with a sprouting child. Inadvertently parents are forced to change their child’s whims and fancies in order to accommodate new clothes. The most versatile and hardest to accommodate for is girl fashion.
The girl apparel market is a versatile and popular one. It offers the trendiest and latest designs in the apparel market. It’s an ever-growing market, with a lot of scope for creativity and expansion. Skirts to jeans, pants to spaghettis, classical gowns to midis and graceful frocks, shorts to denim, wraparounds to sarong, swimsuits and bikinis to warm woolen and leather, there so many varieties a girl can choose from. But if you walk into Abercrombie, American Eagle Kids, H&M Kids, you will see how their clothes are just simply smaller version of the adult and teen brands. With little or no regard for the image of beauty and style that they are portraying and encouraging.
The true issue in kid fashion is that we as a community, society and culture are trying to encourage our children to follow that natural intuition to want to grow up quickly instead of cherishing the beauty of being a child. Where will it end ? Three and five year olds walking into school looking like an army of rap stars and pop singers. we as a society need tto send a clear message to the fashion industry. If public opinion change on what they want to see for their children the industry will adapt. That is the beauty of fashion. Like society, ever changing, shifting and repeating.
