Does your kid have more fun with fashion than you do? - YouLookFab Forum

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Does your kid have more fun with fashion than you do?

ironkurtin

Veteran

My seven-year-old daughter is fearless and inventive. She recently wore a long drapey ballet skirt as a cape. She wears white velvet dresses with tights and clunky mary janes and big pashmina shawls. She mixes colors and patterns and always looks amazing.

What stops me from having this much fun?!

18 replies

Latest reply was from modgrl

Anonymous

Probably the "what will my co-workers/significant other/mother/neighbors will think of me?" kind of thoughts. Kids are much more uninhibited .I'm so moved that you and your daughter share the love for style.

fern

Veteran

At brunch this morning, our friends' daughter was wearing hot pink with spring green. I thought "fearless" too.
hmmm.... I don't know if anything I own, let alone could combine, has that kind of oomph.
Your daughter sounds awesome.

Mamapicklejuice

Veteran

Yes, but I have seen other adults who are fearless about fashion...it's not restricted to kids...Annagybe seems fearless to me. Her outfits are bold, strong, very often unconventional, and they always rock.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Your daughter sounds like a lot of fun! And I'll bet she gets at least a little of that fearlessness from you!

My daughter isn't interested in fashion and never has been. But when she played dressup, THEN she had fun. Not with the conventional princess stuff. She found ways to dress as a wolf, or a monster, or a detective. And then she was fearless.

ironkurtin

Veteran

Do you think it's the acceptance of clothing as costume? Maybe some of it is that kids have yet to accept gender or role restrictions, as well? Also their bodies are great templates because they aren't lumpy or hairy.

I know they aren't selfconscious, and that removes pressure that one grows to expect later in life - the grown-up "i'd feel a fool" thing. I wonder if I need to seize some of that for me. And how I would!

Aziraphale

Veteran

HAHAHAHA!! My daughter used to do the same thing when she was six or seven. With the long skirt as a cape, I mean. She'd wear one the normal way, then one over her shoulders like a cape. Now she's eight, and she doesn't wear that kind of stuff out of the house anymore, but she still likes clothes. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Anonymous

Oh yes! I owe you guys pictures but the light is bad now. My 15 yr old DD is fearless. She mixes crazy colors together and somehow they look great. She'll mix burgundy with lime green and red with baby blue. She's always mixed patterns and she's not happy without a significant amount of happy clashing. She does it in a really artful way, though and there is a method to it. She manages to always wear a flattering color near her face while sporting the other ones below the waist. She has cell phone covers and sunglasses in every color of the rainbow and almost as many pairs of sneakers.

I caught her reading the Lucky Style manual that I had checked out from the library. She said, "Mom, I am SO California Casual and you are SO American Classic"

Lisa

Veteran

No kid here but I notice color mixing is full force with young children. For some reason I lost that boldness as I got older.

Mamapicklejuice

Veteran

I dunno...my style preferences (modern classic) just don't require "fearlessness."

I also think that the style goal of many kids is to look as silly as possible, which is not a goal of mine! (Striped pants tucked into striped socks, tutu worn on the head, etc.)

How are you playing it safe? What do you want to wear that you are not currently?

JennyAnne

(website)

Veteran

What a fun kid! I only have boys around here, but my mom tells stories of me being quite the snazzy dresser when I was little. That cracks me up since I'm pretty safe nowadays and definitely try to err on the side of tasteful.

goldenpig

(website)

Veteran

My daughter likes pattern mixing, just like me

ironkurtin

Veteran

MPJ, she just has more "fun." She doesn't fetishize anything, she speaks directly to her own happiness. Her goal isn't to look silly at all. It's to explore possibilities in the world. I feel much more closed to this.

Amy

(website)

Veteran

Sadly my daughter does not like clothes the way I do. She has a longer list of what she won't wear than what she will. No pink. No puffy sleeves. No gathers. No jeans. No dresses. No skirts. No leggings.

She will, however wear things will sparkles and lights. Some of her t-shirts are blinding. She wears elastic waist pants and t-shirts with her large fuzzy boots every day.

The kid certainly knows her mind. I'm almost 40 and I still haven't figured out my style "persona."

Scarlet

Veteran

I think kids that age just aren't thinking in terms of "but what will others think?"--not saying that you do, but from puberty on I think all of us spend a lot of time worrying about that. Sounds like a creative and bright girl!

shipskitty

Veteran

I have a little creativeness leaking out through my clothes...but only in a small way so far LOL. Mostly about interesting accessories so far but I can feel it slowly creeping into other areas of my style (LOL...look at me...I have "a style"). Sometimes I feel the urge to unleash it but then rein myself back I wish I had some of your daughter's fearlessness to really let it all hang out and not worry about anything.

Mamapicklejuice

Veteran

Kids can be pretty judgmental on the playground, so I'm not sure it's as simple as "adults judge, kids do not." Some people just naturally express their creativity through their clothing. I think if you used to have fun with your clothes you can certainly get that back. I'm not a particularly creative dresser, so I'm afraid I don't have any good tips for you. I'm hoping some of our more fearless YLFers will chime in!

(And you know, even though I am not a "fearless" dresser, I AM having fun. I thoroughly enjoyed putting together a slightly unconventional cocktail party outfit a couple weeks back...it certainly wasn't avant garde or designed to shock, so the degree of "fearlessness" needed to wear it was pretty low, but I did have fun.)

Thank you for an interesting read!

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

I think my 12 yr old dd is a little TOO fearless! She still has the exuberance of a 7 year old when it comes to dressing, but she has a very adult looking body already. Some of those outfits that read adorable at 7, start to look inappropriate at her age with her physique.

modgrl

(website)

Veteran

I do think it's easier for a kid. Every season you have to get almost all new clothes because you outgrow last year's wardrobe. That means everything in your wardrobe is either new and current and what's in stores right at this moment, or you get a bunch of handmedowns that are also fun to play with. I end up putting away anything that I don't like or is out of season and let my daughter have at it. Anything is fair game as long as it is seasonally appropriate. We have lots of dress up costumes but her regular combos are usually as much or even more fun.