Thu 31 Aug 2006
Those of you who know me, will probably wonder and shake your heads about a fashion statement coming from someone like me. To say the least, I’m not fashion conscious at all. So what would I, who doesn’t understand a bit about modern clothing, have to say about fashion.
Recently I was confronted with the grim reality of having to start making decisions about what my daughter (my eldest daugher, M, that is, as E gets all her hand-me-downs) is to wear. Until now we’ve been awfully blessed with tones of hand-me-downs for her. And while they weren’t always the clothes I would have chosen, they were perfectly functioning and free clothes. But unfortunately she must have caught up in size to the little girl the clothes used to come from. Now it’s up to me to decide what my daughter is to wear.
So I set off to go shopping for my 2.5 year old only to find that the style of clothes available is more “2 going on 16″. I was walking through the aisles of the shops and just didn’t know what to buy with a permanent question pounding in my head: why can’t a two-year-old be dressed like a two-year-old??? Why do we have to dress them up like teenagers. I have to admit that the clothes were rather cute but why turn children into miniature grown-ups?
All I wanted were some basic clothes that would dress my daughter decently. Yet, even plain t-shirts were turned into some statement, that I personally find totally inappropriate, with slogans on them like “charming”, “baby doll” or “ocean angle”. Why put labels on our children and give them teenage attitudes when they’re just little kids who want to play? I seriously think that the way children are dressed changes the way that we treat them or think about them.
When we got given a beautiful toddler-style pair of overalls recently (with a big bottom and lots of room to move in) I realised how little she actually still is and that I often forget about that because the clothes make her look a lot older.
Therefore when shopping, I bought one style shirt in two different colours and then in protest went to the boys section and bought a “Thomas the tank engine”-overall and t-shirt set (M was very excited about that one). And then I decided that I might just have to start making her clothes.
Sewing mashine here I come!
August 31st, 2006 at 10:02 pm
I agree totally!
A funny related story: I was explaining to my niece that when she moves to Australia she will have to wear a school uniform. She said, “But when we I get to wear all my cool clothes!??” I thought, she’s only just turned 10 and she’s worrying about being cool, it’s quite sad.
I hope that in the mountains you have a less pretentious group of people around you and when your kids go to school they don’t feel un-cool.
All these brand names and slogans etc make the kids grow up too fast. But it’s ironic that once you are really grown up, you don’t need brand names again!
Good luck with the sewing. My mum made most of my favourite clothes when I was little (I don’t know when she had time) and she made matching clothes for my doll. It was so sweet. It’s worth the effort. There are some t-shirts with appropriate pictures (i.e. animals etc) on them available at Glebe maarkets on Saturdays in Sydney. I’m sure you’ll find some at some markets in the mountains too.
September 3rd, 2006 at 5:30 am
Lol!
Yea we lived off hand-me-downs when we were growing up. Mum only really bought us new clothes for xmas and birthdays, prefering to spend money on family holidays than expensive clothing.
As I became older I was certainly jealous of children whose perants reguarly took them shopping to buy pretty dresses etc
Mum also had the odd stint at the sewing machine and we all loved to sew in primary school. We loved to make full skirts that would fly around when we danced and spun. So much fun.
I first became ‘aware’ of brand names when I started high school, I got my first ‘Rip Curl’ jumper when I was 14. High school can be tough and in the first few years it was very important to me to fit in.
But after awhile I came to the conclusion that if I was not happy with myself, If I could not be confident regardless of my clothing I never would be.
By then grunge was all the rage and fellow students had begun bragging about how cheaply they had purchased their clothing and which second hand shops they shopped at.
It was an eye opener to realise that the pressure to be fashionable could be applied to second hand clothing as easily as to expensive designer clothes!
Sorry for high-jacking you comments Franzie! really should get off my arse and write on my own blog.
I didn’t know you had been to Sydney Axel. Where is your sister moving to? I am going home for xmas and can’t wait :-)))
September 4th, 2006 at 12:55 am
I grew up in Sydeny
My sister is moving to Sydney but doesn’t know which suburb yet. She prefers the Eastern Suburbs or the inner West, but their budget is not unlimited, so we’ll see.
It’s funny, we’ve been waiting for about 10 years for her to move back to Australia, but now that she actually is, I’m living in Germany!
September 8th, 2006 at 2:49 pm
Hi Alex and Cathy,
sorry I’m very slack at the moment replying to comments (as I wrote I’m sewing now - every spare minute … hahaha).
I don’t mind you high-jacking my comments, it’s a conversation and that’s what blogs are for, right?!
It’s wonderful that your mum is good with the sewing maching, Alex, she’ll be a great resource when you want to make some clothes for your (future) children and the style of kids-clothes hasn’t improved by then.
I read something somewhere, that there’s only a couple of Western countries that haven’t followed this trend of making children’s wear the same as adult’s clothes just a lot smaller. How sad is that.
What’s Germany like in that regard these days?
Second-hand shops have certainly become rather acceptable or even cool, Cathy. In the Mountains they’re quite “shopped out” because of that. It’s really hard to get the good stuff, cause everybody goes there and is likely to buy it just before you get a chance.
September 8th, 2006 at 5:12 pm
Hey Frannie, if you think it’s bad now, wait till she she’s Ella’s age!
Swimming cozzies are all skimpy with tiny bra tops, it’s soooo hard to find a decent one piece. Shorts also are very small (like hotpants almost) and the clothes for the 8-12’s are too grownup (lots of black).
It is much easier with boys!,they’re not turned into little “tweenies” so easily. Luckily Ella isn’t all that interested and is happy for me to choose her clothes to buy.
September 11th, 2006 at 2:46 pm
Yes, I’m dreading that age already.
I’ve always thought boys are easier to dress nowadays (that’s why I bought Mim the “Thomas”-overalls, and she loved them too).
You might have to start sewing too
July 11th, 2007 at 9:45 am
Hi - I just found your blog (on a search of cute toddler clothes to sew - thank you, google) and this post. I am still in the phase of hand me downs from a lady who likes to spend a lot of money on her daughter’s clothes, but I am starting to feel very similar to what you tried to express here: I find a lot of children’s clothes too cutesy or too adult - and I agree with your . Girls specifically. Anyhow. Interestingly enough, I am trying to raise my daughter trilingual (German being my language, Spanish her Dads, and English our common) on the other end of the world - in San Francisco. So, I’ll definitely stop by once in a while to see your progress. Mine is not at all inspiring right now. In fact, I think I should make a blog entry about it. Given the fact that I am very lazy about blogging these days. And now off to save the sewing thread from being spread all over the office floor.
Have a great day.
Helga
July 21st, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Thanks for visiting, Helga. Wow what a coincidence, looks like we’ve got a few things in common.
Have you had any luck with the sewing machine and the production of more tasteful clothing for your little girl.
Sorry this blog is quite abandoned right now and unfortunately won’t change in the near future, as you might have seen from my most recent post but thanks for stopping by.
How’s your daughter going so far with the three languages?