Monday, February 14, 2011

AAAGggghh, clothing for the 11-14 year-old girl

Hello all....Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, the Father-Daughter Dance is this week, and my mission between now and then is to somehow find a suitable dress for each of my daughters.  In addition K has been told by her music teacher that the 6th grade girls will get extra credit if they wear a dress to an upcoming Art/Music concert at the school.  Finding a dress won't be too difficult for S, but for K, who is now 11....sheesh.  This is difficult!  Her favorite store at the moment is J.ustice.  We went there a week or two ago, and while they did have a dress, she didn't like it - I don't remember the exact details but it was probably too pink, or too frilly, or too flowery, or too.....yeah...too girly.

Now, don't get me (or her) wrong, she's all about the girly stuff.  She loves painting her nails, now has her ears pierced twice, likes to smell pretty, is jones-ing to wear makeup, it is taking her more and more time to get ready to go somewhere, all that stuff.  But when it comes to clothes, she is NOT into anything that at least I would describe as feminine.  No dresses for everyday wear.  No basic cardigans - has to be a "hoodie" preferably black.  No knit leggings-as-pants anymore, has to be yoga pants, jeans, or "jeggings" (basically skinny jeans which are also stretchy). 

Just shopping for basic clothing for this age bracket is, in my mind, made more difficult because of their age.  They are too old for some things, or wouldn't wear that stuff anyway because in their mind they are actually 15 and not 11, and need to dress accordingly.....not happening.  Because, if I let K dress the way she thinks she should/could be dressing, well I doubt her choices at this point would be appropriate.  And then, they are too young for many of the clothes which are being marketed to their age bracket!!  We went to a local department store about this time last year, once again looking for a dress for this same dance.  And the dresses...wow...can we say inappropriate, can we say dresses for a 25-year-old woman on a bender, can we say I would not ever let her wear these??  It's a challenge to find a decent dress, these days, for an 11-year old girl; what the "popular" clothing market produces is often not really a great choice, and yet what I would find decent, she won't wear because she is basing her likes/dislikes on what the clothing market is pushing.

Maybe I should learn to sew, and just make all her clothes?

Ummmmm....welllll.....

Later,
Jen

4 comments:

PythonKatie said...

This is one area I am ever so thankful to be a mother of boys. Boys clothes = jeans/tshirts and although trending differs from year to year - they can still get away with the basics and not be out of style.

Girls - wow. I cringe walking by that department in most stores. It's sad to see outfits for 4 year olds that remind me of the ladies that sell their goods..if you know what I mean...

Sorry!!! Hope you find something suitable soon!

JMB said...

Yes I do know what you mean, and I think at one point within the last 10 months I actually blurted out to my daughter, "I'm not letting you wear anything that makes you look like a hooker" - and then I had to somehow explain what the heck I meant by THAT. I think I dodged the issue somehow!

J.

Unknown said...

Agh! I DREAD these things. WHY do they market clothes that make 8 year olds look like prostitutes?

Good for you for actually seeing it for the issue that it is!

BookChook said...

It truly is difficult to help kids choose appropriately when they are bombarded by the media with inappropriate images - not only of clothing, but also of body types.