Girls’ Clothing Doesn’t Do Much Clothing Anymore

By Crystal Arcand on September 17th, 2009

I have two daughters. I hate shopping for their clothes. You see, I’m one of those weird people that wants her girls’ clothes to… well, clothe them.

Such a simple task is getting harder and harder at mass retailers these days. The racks are stuffed with clothes from people like the Olsen Twins and Hannah Montana and the cast of the High School Musical series. Wait – aren’t these people in their late teens and twenties? Why are they selling clothes to girls half their ages? Why would I want my 7-year-old first-grader to look like a 14-year old freshman? Let’s put it into perspective, shall we? I am 33. It would be ludicrous for people to expect me to dress like my mother or grandmother, who is 75. I don’t dress like women twice my age. I would get strange looks if I did because it wouldn’t look right. And yet, we dress our 7-year-old daughters like young women three times their age and don’t bat an eye. Why is that?

It starts in the department next door – infants. Tell me: why does a baby need a two-piece bikini? She doesn’t. Parents but their babies in tiny, little bikinis that barely cover their little nipples because they think it’s “cute.” Then they just have to have the little halter dress because it’s “adorable.” The tiny mini-skirts? Oh, those are okay – they’ve got built-in shorts, see? As the girls that are not old enough to complain, question, or even walk outgrow the cute and adorable, the parents just continue to the next aisle to buy the tiny little mini-skirt in the next size up – without realizing that the built-in shorts are no longer built-in. Does the halter dress disappear when the need for a bra shows up? Nope – they make convertible bras for our preteens so they can show off their backs, too.

I was confused about the whole 80’s layered look coming back until I really started to look at the girls’ clothing departments. The girls have to layer tee-shirts under the halter dresses because they spend the majority of their time at school, and – lo and behold – the dress code forbids bare backs. That’s still not enough, though. The girls then have to wear jeans or leggings under the same halter dress because it’s too short for school dress codes. Whether the dress is a halter or a spaghetti strap, a-line or babydoll doesn’t matter, because it doesn’t cover our girls enough at the top or bottom to be considered appropriate clothing for school. And we wonder why more and more schools are going to uniforms. Really?

Here’s a clue, parents: when you look with derision and scorn at the likes of the Olsens, Miley Cyrus, and Vanessa Hudgens with their bloopers and “wardrobe malfunctions,” don’t forget to go take the clothes they push out of your daughter’s closet, because as they say, “Clothes make the man [girl].” I’m just sayin’…