Fashion: FALL ISSUE : CHILDREN : Straight From the Tube
Children pick up many messages from watching television. How to dress is one of them.
Preschool- and kindergarten-age kids like their animated television friends appliqued to their clothing. Little Mermaids and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are the biggest sellers for this age group, says JC Penney spokesperson Jackie Dunn.
By first grade, the clothes with cartoon critters have been abandoned in favor of those that enhance role-playing. Children this age like outfits that mimic adult uniforms, super heroes and adventure costumes--astronauts, Ghostbusters, doctors, nurses, race-car drivers, dancers and such.
Actress Morgan Brittany was at a loss when her young son Cody wanted to dress like his stunt-man father, Jack Gill. Brittany says she couldn’t find small-scale versions of the pit-crew overalls, aviator jackets and flight suits that Cody wanted. So she got into the children’s wear business and began a unisex line of rugged fantasy clothes called Stunt Gear.
By the fourth grade, kids are looking for role models. And they often want clothes that depict a favorite athlete.
“The face of the athlete sells, not the team emblem,” Dunn says. Which is why Magic Johnson’s line of T-shirts with the wraparound graphics of Michael Jordan sell more than the NFL-licensed Los Angeles Lakers clothes at JC Penney. Jackets and shirts that look like uniforms run a close second, she says.
The athletic influence is so strong and has been prevalent for so long that pro sports is considered a fashion category within children’s wear, says Dana Taryn, a fashion director for the Tobe Report, a fashion forecasting service.
Taryn says the newest influence on preteen clothing is rap music. The uniform of baseball caps, hooded sweat shirts and oversize overalls are popular with both boys and girls.
“It is the first time an inner-city socio-statement has crossed over. White kids want to dress like black kids.”
Taryn says the color barrier was broken by “The Cosby Show.”
“Those were the most fashionable kids of any family of any color. The show set standards.”
TV has replaced peer pressure as the prevailing influence on the way children dress. “The peer group is still important,” says Dr. Charles Weinstein, an Encino-based child psychologist, “but television is a big influence. Even if kids don’t watch television they will get the information from their friends. They feed off each other.”
For parents who may shudder at the thought of a 9-year-old rapper, Weinstein offers this balm. “Children may mimic the look but that doesn’t mean they identify with the person or the lyrics. My impression is that children look and dress much older than they are.”
