When it comes to clothes for my kid, I'm pretty laissez-faire - to a point. I won't buy clothes with writing, I don't let any branded characters into the house, and pajamas have to be 100% cotton. If she wants to wear tights with holes and a purple skirt and several shirts layered together with a fake fur vest over the whole thing? So be it. She has a certain panache, and clothing is - to my mind - one of those battles not worth fighting.
It goes further: we talk about what's appropriate. You'll break your ankle in high heels, Ugg boots are too friggin' expensive for a kid whose feet are growing so fast (not to mention the fact that they're fugly). Belly buttons need to be covered up, unless you're on the beach in a two piece bathing suit. No, you cannot dress like a pop star; it's age-inappropriate.
In short, she can wear whatever she wants, within a fairly generous set of parameters.
Last month, the girl and I, along with a handful of other bloggers and tweenish girls, were invited to spend the afternoon in the showroom/offices of Little Miss Matched. The girls were sent off to "raid" the closets, while the moms heard about design development and the philosophy behind the brand. I confess that I was susceptible - it's why I accepted the invitation in the first place - because I really like their punchy bright mismatched products and I've been buying them for years.
We weren't disappointed. The girl had a great time trying on clothes, and I was kind of fascinated by the creative process. Sitting in a room with fabric swatches and magazine clips pinned everywhere was energizing. And the ethos of the company feels right - colorful clothes that foster individuality - what more could you want?
Little Miss Matched has decreed tomorrow - Friday 10/21 - to be Rock Your Socks day. And the best part about that? All this month, they are donating funds to support creative projects in schools via Donors Choose - with their gift card, I helped an elementary school teacher buy 15 ukuleles for her classroom.
Raising girls is hard. Navigating through issues like body image and peer pressure and pretty vs. smart is tricky. Having fun products out there like the mix and match 3 packs of colorful socks makes it a little easier. Besides, how awesome is she, all mixed and matched?
Little Miss Matched fed us popcorn, and gave us some socks and other tchotchkes, as well as a $5 gift card to spend at Donors Choose. No one paid me to write this, and all the opinions are mine.
10 comments:
Interesting. And interesting that the brand is going the route of finding good and popular bloggers to court.
My take on girls' clothes is this: until they hit the self conscious stage, buy cheap and lots of it in colours they like; once clothes become a competition, co-operate as much as your budget and common sense allow.
Your parameters seem really sound to me. The only one I would add is that short shorts do not go to school.
I love the Little Miss Matched stuff - Eve just found an old pair of tights today and put them on her lower legs and hopped around. Our parameters are much like yours, except slightly more bourgeois, naturally - there might be a couple of Aeropostale shirts in my son's drawer (confession is good for the soul, right?)
First I've heard of Miss Matched - is this a national brand? Like you, the concept is appealing. Free spirited is a good thing.
My neighbor girl did mismatched 15 years ago--she wishes she would have been old enough to start a company!
You have excellent parameters.
We don't have a Little Miss Matched out here; I only knew about it because you blogged it once before. And? I just bought two pairs (triplets?) of leg warmers for my daughter. Online, of course. She suddenly grew an inch, none of her pants fit, so for $20 I got her leg warmers & she can continue to wear the too-small pants... Ha!
If I had had a girl, my rules for dress would have been uncannily close to your own.
Those are excellent rules, and ones I still try to enforce at 17....
And my daughter often wears mismatched socks on purpose. It seems to be a fun game to play and she loves this company.
Yes - we like LMM too, and my girl has also moved on to simply mismatching all her socks all the time now.
I really don't understand the point of arguing with a child over whether her clothes match. Who has that kind of time?
No doubt... Uggs are fugly.
And clothes with personality sound fun. Especially when you have a child with a certain panache, as you put it (my daughter wore a German soccer shirt and a pink skirt the other day).
And yes to some parameters and discussions about what's appropriate.
She is completely awesome. I love this! Makes me want to live in NYC & visit you and have access to fun stores.
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