Today’s Observer magazine trained a spotlight on the world of designer childrenswear and threw my own ambivalence on the subject into high definition. The piece made me aware of a number of disconcerting facts:
1 That there is such a thing as Global Kids Fashion Week, it launched in 2013 complete with runways and little models sporting Chloe, Little Marc Jacob and Paul Smith Junior.
2 That Net-a-Porter is rumoured to have bought the domain name Petit-a-Porter to cash-in on the designer kidswear gravy train.
And…
3 That Forbes magazine dubbed Prince George “the world’s most influential toddler” as, much like his mother, every garment he ‘endorses’ invariably sells out within days of the sartorial sighting.
Pint-sized style icons are not exactly a new phenomenon but it is unnerving how much attention we are giving these celeb-babies while conversely bemoaning the fact that our kids are becoming increasingly image-conscious at a younger age than ever before.
Over-styled babies is a pet peeve of mine, mainly because I simply do not have the money or the wherewithal to curate my child’s outfits on a daily basis – not least because he has more costume changes than Katy Perry, though hopefully hers are not prompted by frequent self-soilings.
Fact is, as a new mother I can barely manage to style myself (today, for example, I apparently only lined one eyelid which is having a marked effect on my equilibrium). I figure Suri Cruise et al must have dedicated “teams” to mastermind their every public appearance.
Most likely we all agree that the celeb-baby styling is totally over-the-top and unrealistic but even on a civilian level I’ve noticed some pretty well put-together kids running around. The over-styled babies thing seems to me just another outlet for competitive parenting which I hate because I am not very good at it (I am horribly competitive so when I hit on something I’m bad at, I usually renounce it to save face). Sure it’s good for babies and kids to look nice, but for me clean(ish) and well-tended will suffice. Dressing them up as ridiculous little mini-adults (I’m looking at you Suri) seems disrespectful somehow and creepy, let’s not forget creepy. It’s over-the-top and just smacks of reducing kids to the status of an accessory.
I am highly suggestible however and I can’t help but feel a bit of life envy when confronted with the levels of considered cuteness as seen on Instgrams like that of Courtney Adamo, founder of Babyccino Kids an online shopping emporium for discerning tots, who appears to live inside some Nora Ephron-tinged, Scandi-tinted, nostalgia land of which I am intensely jealous.
I realise that I could all too easily get sucked in to a vicious cycle of trying to out-cute other people’s kids which has nothing to do with the actual point of being a parent so I think I’ll be sticking to Dunnes and Penneys, with the odd bit of P.O.P. to satisfy my hipster leanings.
