The Mother-Daughter Look Goes Californian

What do you get when you cross a children’s clothing line with California design ingenuity? For women’s wear designer Leslie Gayle Karten, the answer is a new collection of mother-daughter clothes that are more about newfangled tapestry and lace than old-fashioned gingham and bows.

Karten named her collection “So So Sophie” after her 2-year-old daughter, and now finds herself reliving mother-daughter memories of her own.

“When I was a kid, my mother and I would wear matching strawberry print pinafores,” recalls Karten. “I was very happy on those days. I felt special.”

Nowadays, mothers are enamored of the idea of dressing alike when their daughters are infants, she says. Then, when the children reach 4 or 5, they want to mirror their mothers. That lasts until about age 10 or 11, when individuality is the be all, says Karten.

Those who like the mother-daughter look are especially interested in matching lace outfits this summer, Karten says.

For fall, she has designed bubble gum-pink lace dresses and skirts to pair with fringed, blanket-plaid jackets.

Karten’s designs use romantic, grown-up fabrics, with grown-up price tags to match. Retail prices range from $85 to $145 for children, $150 to $400 for adults.

The designer, who often dresses like her daughter, isn’t suggesting the clothes as a steady diet. “I think for a special event, it can be a lot of fun,” she says, and then offers another justification: “The dress is so fabulous, you both want it.”

The mother-daughter designs are available at Fred Segal Melrose and Splash in Studio City.