Just a mini-rant about clothing for young girls. Every year
I buy Chica Marie and dress for Christmas. Usually, I try to find Love Bug
something that goes along with it and then they get pictures with Santa and
wear it on Christmas day. Usually it is quite easy for me to find something
cute for both of them, but this year it was not. I found a cute outfit for Love
Bug. It was a pair of tan-colored corduroy pants with a red, green, and black
striped button down shirt and a green vest with a train on it. It’s adorable
and he simply loves it because it has a train. So, after snagging his outfit, I
wandered over to the girls section. I found a bunch of cute dressed but they
only went up to size 6x. Chica Marie will be 8 in a few weeks and a 6x is too
small for her. She is slender but tall and I knew none of those dresses would
work on her frame. So, I moved onto the misses section, looking for a Christmas
dress. I found some dresses but I was shocked and dismayed at what was proffered.
First of all, every single dress was short-sleeved or sleeveless. It is winter
time here in PA, which means it is cold and inappropriate for dresses without
sleeves. Not only were the dresses sleeveless, but they were very flimsy, to
the point of being sheer. I dug through the racks, desperate to find something
for Chica Marie. Eventually I did find a dress (you can see it below) but not before I lost a lot of
hope in dressing her in the future. I was shopping in a fairly conservative
store, not a place where I would expect to find dresses I deemed inappropriate
for my daughter. The things I saw were made for girls 8 and older but they
looked too grown up for my taste and I’m not a fuddy-duddy or anything like
that. I just want my daughter to look like an 8 year old girl, not a teenager.
I did mention something to the cashier who told me a story about a father
having similar difficulties finding an outfit for his daughter to wear to a
school concert. I don’t want Chica Marie to be in a hurry to grow up because in
some ways she acts older than she is but emotionally she is younger. I want her
to be 8 and then 9 and then 10, not 7 now and suddenly 13. I’m sure many
parents bemoan the rate at which their children grow, but I really just want to
keep her wardrobe age-appropriate. I hope that is something that is possible.
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That's a lovely dress. I can imagine your horror at this. We should be able to buy cute, age-appropriate clothes for girls. (And, can I add, ones that AREN'T PINK! - excuse the shouting, but I got carried away.) I am the "clothes-buying Auntie" for my niece, and so far have managed to find reasonable things, though not as formal as that pretty dress you found.
ReplyDeleteChildren's place usually has stuff. Also the brands rare edition and bonnie Jean are good. I buy all my nieces their clothing and only by age appropriate. I have found that you have to buy cardigans or put a long sleeve shirt on underneath. The clothing is made for the whole country so I guess they figure the cold places can add while warm can't take away. Rare edition dress a lot of times come with an added cardigan.
ReplyDeleteThat's a nice dress you found in the end. I really hate how girl's clothes can be sexual at such a young age. Like with inappropriate slogans or things being super short. The longer kids can just be kids the better.
ReplyDelete