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Tween power Kids want to have a say in their clothes

Remember the good old days when you waited with bated breath for your tailor to give you that frock you dreamt of for your little princess. And today, if the ‘Princess’ feels like a new outfit you just step into a store (with her in tow, of course) and take your pick (or she picks). Your ‘tween’ (a child between eight and 12-years-old) has a mind and dress sense of her own and letting her choose is the sensible thing to do and there is plenty to choose from.

Try getting a tailor to stitch clothes for your ‘tween’. Probably you are still looking for him/her because you are not going to get one. According to Joseph, who runs a tailoring unit, Our Tailors in Vytilla, they are hard to come by because they are in great demand. “The one person that I had to stitch frocks for kids has left because people who can stitch clothes for kids are in great demand,” he says. That is not to say that there are no options. There are places such as Nicole Creations. Diane Alex, who owns Nicole Creations has been in the business of dressing up young ladies for almost a decade now. Orders are coming thick and fast, unabated. “Dressing up girls between 10-12 is difficult, this is when the parents go conservative when sleeveless have to be capped sleeved,” says Diane.

Anju Aju who runs Why kids? a boutique for kids upto five, says “I used to take orders for kids upto eight, but then I realised that kids in that age group have a mind of their own, they would rather wear jeans and skirts, the kind of stuff that is available in stores so I discontinued that and focus now on kids upto five years old. ”

But then there is the option of picking these off shelves. Brands such as Osh Kosh, Little Kangaroo are available in some of the stores but these stores do not have space dedicated to these brands. Then there are brands such as United Colors of Benetton, Wearhouse and Weekender which specialise in the casual and semi-formal wear. These aren’t exactly cheap, but then they are branded, aren’t they?

The market for garments for tweens has evolved, in fact, still growing. This is probably one age group where the speed at which the kids grow defies super sonic. In the days long ago, parents would have dithered at the thought of buying very expensive clothes for kids in this age group. Now walk into the kids section of any store such as Seematti, My Kingdom or Jayalakshmi and you will be assaulted by racks and racks of clothes. In fact these stores have an entire floor dedicated to kids. Then there are stores such as the recently opened Zapp! Which are devoted exclusively to the kiddies. The sheer variety of it all is to be seen. Gone are the days of skimpy wardrobes, this indeed is the time of plenty in terms of quality and quantity.

There was a time when girls had it good in terms of options available, now the same goes for the boys too. Ok! It still is slightly better for the girls, or rather their mothers. All those thwarted sartorial dreams (by parents or husbands) now have an outlet (a very willing one too) – your daughter all set to be all grown up (too fast?). So there come the half sleeves, sleeveless and the ‘minus sleeves’ – the off shoulders, spaghetti straps, backless, halter tops …all for the budding ladies with willing mothers. Diane Alex disagrees that clothes are getting skimpy for girls between 10 and 12. But reiterates the fact that it all depends on the judgement of mothers to decide what their girls should wear.

Generally, clothes for preteens have gone a bit flashy bordering on the gaudy. It is not just glitz and glitter that makes an outfit loud, the colours, the combinations and the messages on the clothes too make statements.

What ever happened to those cute sailor dresses, puff sleeves, pinafores, smocks…they are all there but at the kiddy boutiques. The trend now appears to be whatever goes for the grown-ups (in terms of clothes) goes for the li’l kutties too. There is plenty to choose from ethnic to western, for boys and girls. Lachchas and lehengas, skirts and capris, shorts and sherwanis – name it and you will get it. After all clothes maketh a kid!

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