Kids on a Shopping Spree

It isn’t easy being 5. Especially when it comes to fashion. Mom, Dad, Grandma and Auntie are always buying your clothes and telling you how to wear them. You want to rebel. You do. You get in trouble. Yuk.

What would it be like to be a kindergartner and pick out all your own clothes? Cool, that’s what.

Recently, three young Southern California shoppers hit the size 4-5-6 racks at Target, T. J. Maxx and Kids Mart with the dream job of selecting their own wardrobes. No big people to get in the way. Total freedom to dress their way.

Shoppers Amanda Yung and Roz Goharnia have known each other for what they say seems like forever--at least two years of nursery school. They agree that graduating to kindergarten calls for a more sophisticated look than they’ve been wearing in the preschool sandbox.

They encounter a top with a necktie at one store.

“No way,” says Amanda. “Neckties are for boys.”

“Yeah, for boys,” Roz chimes in.

But when told Brenda (actress Shannen Doherty) wears ties on the TV show “Beverly Hills, 90210,” they cave in, and rush to don the menswear looks, complete with cravats.

What Brenda wears is very important to these girls, despite the fact that neither stays up late enough to watch the show.

Sam Cieply contributes the male viewpoint: “I like ‘regular’ clothes.” For him, oversized T-shirts, jeans, and anything that signifies that he plays soccer are haute regular. So, too, are patterns that reflect his fascinations: Batman, Ninja Turtles and that perennial favorite, dinosaurs.

One of his first wardrobe selections is a black sweater emblazoned with vivid Tyrannosaurus Rex that he teams with neon green. Not so “regular” by adult standards. “It’s bright--I like bright,” he says.

As if to support his point, he quickly puts on a bold purple and blue hooded T-shirt and purple patterned surfer pants.

Amanda shies away from overwhelming bright colors in favor of pastels. “Pink and blue with designs, kitties and flowers” are her favorites. At T. J. Maxx, her choices include pink stirrup pants with a floral top that ties at the waist, and an ice blue sweat shirt-fleece dress with a raised floral design. That latter gets a strong nod of approval because “it’s soft on the inside.”

The girls prefer skirts to pants, perhaps in reaction to a school rule that requires that they keep their legs covered. (“They don’t want our knees scratched,” Roz says. “And pants are good for climbing on the bars.”)

The girls say denim is “too heavy,” “too scratchy” and “it doesn’t twirl.” But add some pearls to a denim jacket or faux rubies and emeralds to a denim skirt, and Roz can’t resist.

At Target, the silvery-buckled Western belt was shiny enough to convince Amanda to try the blue denim jumper. Sam went for denim, too. He paired simple baggy jeans with a pile-lined jacket. But after wearing the topper for a few minutes he decided it wasn’t for him--”too hot.” (Hint to adults: go jacket shopping on cool days.)

Beauty and the Beast, Minnie Mouse and Barbie-themed clothes were magnets for the girls.

The moral to this shopping experiment? Kids know what they like and are happy to share some advice:

“Take me shopping and buy what I like, otherwise I won’t wear it,” says Amanda.

“Don’t make me stay in the store too long--I hate trying stuff on,” says Roz.

And from Sam: “Button shirts aren’t comfortable.”