FASHION / FALL IN THE CITY : Save a Little, Splurge a Little
Let’s say your child asks you to buy a felt hat or red cowboy boots or an iridescent backpack. How do you respond?
A. “Not in my lifetime.”
B. “Maybe . . . for your birthday.”
C. “Where’s my checkbook?”
Investment dressing for kids may sound like an oxymoron, but theatrical clothes and mad-cap accessories are as useful to a child’s wardrobe as a leather jacket is to an adult’s.
Kids’ basics such as sweat pants, jeans and T-shirts rarely withstand the test of time--they are used, abused and outgrown in six months. So it makes sense to buy pint-sized basics at stores like Target, K mart and JC Penney, where the price for such items rarely tops $15.
Saving on functional clothes allows a little extra for flourishes. This means those beguiling children’s boutiques and pricey catalogues are not necessarily off limits, especially if you confine your purchases to small accessories--suspenders, vests, belts and hats--that have a long life span.
Jerry Machado, president of the Menlo Park-based Storybook Heirlooms catalogue, has noticed a rise in the sale of inexpensive hair accessories and high-priced shoes and coats.
“We have cute Mary Jane shoes for $28 and they sell quite well.”
But so do the suede and patent leather spat boots for $88 (one of the most popular items in the catalogue), and the multicolored suede cowboy boots for $60. And a $32 red cowgirl hat with a rose-laden brim is continually selling out.
“But that’s because the Western look is a popular theme across the country,” Machado says.
The way to choose investment items is to look for things that will last for more than two seasons, can be worn every day or can do double duty.
Hats--if they’re not lost--can last a couple of years. Jackets, backpacks, shoes and boots can be worn almost every day, which is, perhaps, justification for spending a little more on them, especially if a child has to wear a school uniform. These items can be used to create a personal style.
Pajama tops and parts of costumes can be recycled into the school wardrobe. After all, given the choice, most 8-year-olds would prefer to wear a Spiderman shirt or a fringed cowboy vest instead of a blue, button-down, Oxford cloth shirt.
White cotton slips can double as prairie skirts at considerably less cost. Sheer slips can do double duty, under dresses or worn with leggings for that underwear-as-outerwear-look.
Layering summer shorts on top of winter pants is a hot hip-hop look that is easy to achieve. Another street style embraced by teens but very practical for young kids is that of wearing oversized denim shorts and overalls. Even if the trend is fleeting, at least the young ones will grow into the clothes.
Sara Schiffrin sees both the cost-conscious customer and the price-tag-be-damned parents in her Santa Monica store, Sara For Kids.
“We sell a lot of basic cotton T-shirts and pants and little accessories. We try and stay price-conscious but there is that other end, the people who will pay anything,” she says.
When price does matter she recommends accessories such as her $12 sequined headbands and $8 purses from Burma, and cotton basics.
