The Working Closet
with Susan Wagner
The Working Closet is your source for the best of what's hip and fresh in fashion and beauty. Susan Wagner keeps you up-to-date on trends and offers tips and tricks for making everything in your closet truly work for you.
You can also catch Susan over at Working Closet.
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I have boys, two of them. I love them with my whole soul, and I truly believe that I am a good boy mama, for a lot of reasons (I like sports and I don’t mind dirt and pretend tea parties cause me to go into a coma). But there are times when I am a little wistful about not having had a daughter.
Because girls have the CUTEST clothes.
Like these wee dresses, all of which are appropriate for play and parties.
The babydoll dress made a comeback this past year, for girls of all ages and sizes. It’s a difficult shape to wear if you are a grown up, but if you happen to be a kid, the babydoll is perfect.
Gap Kids babydoll sweater dress, $39.50
This one, from Gap Kids, can be worn on its own or with a cardigan when the weather is warm, or layered over a turtleneck or long-sleeved tee for colder days. Pair with tights and boots for snowy days, or with tennis shoes for play dates.
I am a big believer in play clothes that kids can actually PLAY in, but rather than tear down the curtains in the governess’s room to make them, you can skip off to Hanna Andersson and find super cute dresses for every day. This one quite honestly makes my ovaries hurt. Maybe I should have another baby …
Hanna Andersson Come for Cocoa dress, currently $32.00
Or maybe I should just buy the dress for my niece.
Finally, being a kid means that you get to wear whimsical pieces. Little girls should have little girl clothes, not little tiny versions of grown up clothes. After all, when was the last time you were able to wear a skirt with a poodle on it to the office?
Don’t answer that.
Poodle hem dress, Gymboree, $26.50
Gymboree also has poodle tights, if one were so inclined.
What are YOUR kids wearing these days? Show us, in The Working Closet photo pool! Every photo you upload enters you in the Work It, Kids! photo contest. Details are here.
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This is how pathetic my fashion sense is — I saw the first dress and thought oh, that’s cute, I should get that to wear with jeans. Right.
Nataly | December 7th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
LOL nataly! you are funny! i saw the title and wanted to be all ‘not always! boys have cute clothes TOOO’ but you are right… i admit it! maybe it’s just that MY boy make all his clothes look insantely cute? i will post a pic one of these days!!
and, since cute boy clothes ARE hard to find… could you helps us out with some ideas?
Kate | December 7th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Nataly, you are wee enough that you really COULD wear that with some jeans.
Boys clothes coming next week. Promise. Because BY GOD I am going to get my kids to wear something that is not sweats in the New Year. If it kills us ALL. Which it really may.
Susan | December 7th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
Little girls should have little girl clothes, not little tiny versions of grown up clothes.
Amen. And there is so much really, really cute stuff out there: why would you waste all that adorable-ness dressing them like they’ll dress themselves when you are the biggest embarrassment on the entire planet? Savour these “Mommy-is-wonderful” years with their own special whimsical wardrobe.
MaryP | December 7th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
I love Hanna Andersson! My daughter has that Hanna dress, actually - and you’re right. They’re perfect for everyday play. They’re so durable, even their tights. After repeated washings and dryings, no pillings, holes or runs. And she is a VERY active 20 month old little lady.
Erin (ladybugs12) | December 8th, 2007 at 12:05 am
i have way more fun shopping for my daughter than for my son - so much more color & variety & styles!! and she loves to wear dresses, so even better!!
there is nothing quite so aggrevating as trying to find dressy clothes for boys.
Jaime | December 8th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
The hanna dresses are the best - and they last at least two years - the first year they’re a little longer and more “dress-like” and the next year she wears them with the pants and they are more “tunic-like” - so - they end up being slightly more economical than you think initially because they last so darned long.
Dani | December 10th, 2007 at 12:45 am
This is one reason I like teaching 4th grade rather than my former job in 6th; the kids still dress like kids. They still enjoy being cute!
Daisy | December 10th, 2007 at 2:31 am
If I look carefully through BOTH racks of boys clothes (you know, set off in the corner of the sea of cute girls clothes), there are some cute clothes. Do a rack count sometime–it’s usually at least 2 to 1, girls clothes to boys. Honest!! Neither of my boys will wear any pant that has a fly (what’s up with that), just to complicate my search..and both are particular about the t shirts (and only t shirts) they will wear.
gayle | December 10th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Gayle, I hear you, both about the lack of selection for boys (hello Old Navy! with the four million pairs of leggings for little girls and the ONE pair of cords for little boys!) and about the limitations boys put on what they will wear.
My sons? Will ONLY wear sweatpants. My seven-year-old makes an exception for his school uniform pants, but I swear to you he starts stripping them off the moment he walks in the house. And god forbid he have to put on Nice Pants on a weekend.
Sigh.
Susan | December 10th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
I love those dresses… my preschooler has been in an anti-dress mood lately (”Mama, I can’t WUN FAST in a DWESS!”) but those are some she could wear over slim jeans and still run as much as her little heart desires…
Lylah | December 10th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
I’ve always said that moms of boys give the cutest girls clothing gifts.
Jessalyn | December 11th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Jessalyn, so true!! And we give lots of them-
gayle | December 12th, 2007 at 5:47 pm