Demure fashion trend pleases parents, young girls this fall
by Eileen smith September 27, 2011 1:18PM
Left: Cable Zip Front sweater, $17.99; Strip Long Sleeve Oxford Blouse, $17.99, and Patchwork Denim Skort, $14.99 . Right: Long Oxford Shirt Dress, $17.99. All at Land's End.
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Updated: November 27, 2011 1:21PM
Lands’ End is showing pencil leg pants in corduroy and khaki fabrics that offer a slim, but not skintight, silhouette.
At Gap Kids, layered skirts end just above the knee instead of mid-thigh.
Justice teams long T-shirts with a sequined tutu and cropped pants.
This season, shopping is a bit less stressful for parents as retailers shift away from provocative fashions for girls and toward more demure attire.
“The trend is less skin, more layers,” says Lisa Wolstromer, senior marketing director for malls in New Jersey. “When I pass by the windows at New York & Co. and The Limited, I see fashions that are more ladylike.”
As long as it’s stylish, 7-year-old Lauren Noble doesn’t have a problem with showing less skin.
“She knows exactly what she wants,” says her mother, Sara Noble. “We already have had discussions about clothes that are too racy for little girls.”
Showing too much skin hasn’t been much of an issue for boys, whose fashions change more slowly than feminine apparel.
“Moms tell us they want their kids to look like children, not adults,” says Todd Christiansen, Land’s End spokesman. “That is translating into higher rises on jeans, and skorts, which have four-way stretch shorts under skirts.”
Girls develop a sense of fashion at a young age, says Olga Galan, senior buyer for children’s apparel at Daffy’s, an independent trend-oriented discounter in Philadelphia.
“Starting at age 5, most girls want some sort of input as to what they will wear,” she said. “What they like is heavily influenced by teens and young women, who are covering up more, too.”
Like their baby-sitters, girls are gravitating away from itty bitty tops and toward flowing blouses.
“Dresses are floaty, with layers and chiffon, instead of form-fitting,” Galan says. “Instead of cropped tops and bare midriffs, we are seeing tunics.”
Most trends from the teen market trickle down to kids’ apparel but in a less literal interpretation.
“For instance, capes are big for fall, so we’ve created a heather fleece hoodie cape, which is comfortable and versatile, but also trendy and cool,” says Betsy Schumacher, chief merchandising officer of 77kids by American Eagle.
“This fall, patterned leggings are big for girls and can be worn under skirts or dresses for an edgy spin to school style.”
Economy-conscious parents also are displaying more willingness to assert the power of the purse strings. Winning their approval can result in a bigger slice of the children’s apparel market, estimated at $9.5 billion in the United States, this year by IBISWorld Industry, a research firm.
“Parents make the purchases in most cases, so they have final say on what kids are wearing,” Schumacher says.
Last spring, Abercrombie Kids, the juvenile label of Abercrombie & Fitch, was crushed with a tsunami of complaints from outraged parents after the retailer introduced a push-up bikini top for girls as young as 7. Abercrombie quickly yanked the product from its website.
At Land’s End, little Lauren Noble picks out a navy blue, short-sleeve cotton top with a deep pink skirt in a vivid floral print. She tries on pale pink suede clogs but ultimately settles on brown leather flats with a jaunty buckle on the side.
Lauren adjusts her glasses and looks in the mirror.
“It’s pretty,” she says. “I like it.”
Her mom smiles and nods.
“I do, too.”
Gannett News Service
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