Sugar and Spice With Navels in Sight

Bare tummies, sparkly gems, tight black pants, halter tops and glitter. No, this was not the local club scene but the fashion of girls as young as 7 attending Britney Spears concerts in Southern California. The Britney wannabes went all-out to mimic the pop singer’s style--makeup and all.

“I want to be like her because I admire her so much,” said Tess Fox, a fourth-grader from John S. Malcolm Elementary in Dana Point. Tess, 9, wore a pink sequined tube top with tight black pants with pink feather cuffs to the concert Saturday in Irvine. Her tummy and arms were decorated with stick-on faux jewelry, just like Britney in her June Hawaiian television special for Fox TV.

Aubrey Castleberry, 7, chose a Catholic schoolgirl outfit similar to the one Britney wore in the video for her debut album, “ . . . Baby One More Time.”

For all the fun of dressing up, Britney’s sexy influence, off and on stage, raises concerns among some parents about propelling little girls into womanhood too fast.

In practically each song of her act, the 18-year-old engages in some form of striptease--whether she rips off a silvery jacket-like garment to reveal a bust-enhancing halter top or yanks off a T-shirt halfway through another song to parade around in, yes, another halter top, there is an undeniable element of burlesque in her slickly produced show. Early in the concert, she dons a cowboy hat and gyrates around what can only be described as a stripper’s pole, mounted on a riser that moves around the stage. It suddenly became clear to some observers why so many fathers might be interested in accompanying their pre-pubescent children to the show.

“Britney is the Madonna of the millennium,” says Caroline Lettieri, director of Style Council, a Calabasas youth marketing research company that specializes in the trends and lifestyles of ‘tweeners, ages 8 to 13. Madonna turned fashion inside out--accessorizing with crucifixes, rosary beads, chunky belts and behemoth bows around her bleached hair.

Spears, a former Disney Channel Mouseketeer, shows a lot of skin and favors stomach- and back-revealing tops, belly button rings, hip-slung chain belts and silver and gold arm bands. She loves to wear glitter makeup, especially around her eyes.

“Britney has gotten a lot of flack about her style being too sexy. It’s not about that at all,” says Lettieri, “It’s about a sweetness she projects, it’s about showing off her body in a fresh way. She has brought back femininity and the All-American Girl look, a combination of wholesomeness and skin and that’s a nice contradiction.”

Parents face that contradiction with good humor or consternation, depending on the circumstances.

Tess and her best friend, Lexi Guerrero, also 9, almost didn’t get to buy their glitzy, revealing concert outfits. When they walked out of the changing room of the Forever 21 store in San Marcos in the sequined tube tops, Tess’ mother, a stylist, objected. “No, no, no. I don’t want you to walk out of the store like that,” she said. She wouldn’t allow the girls to buy the outfits until Lexi’s mom, who happened to call while they were shopping, convinced her otherwise.

“I told them that it was great for the concert but not for normal wear. Like, I would never let them go to the grocery store like that,” said Tess’ mom, Dru Fox, 37.

Lonna Boozell, 22, had to face down objections from her family when dressing her niece, third-grader Aubrey Castleberry, in Britney wear and dolling her up with makeup. “They wanted to keep her a baby as long as possible, but it’s her first concert and kids her age need to have fun,” said Boozell, a sales administrator from Aliso Viejo who spent 20 minutes applying mascara on Aubrey.

When Boozell couldn’t find a kid-sized tank top to complete Aubrey’s outfit, she bought an adult small. She layered it over a white shirt and tied it high to show off Aubrey’s midriff. Then, Boozell added pink pompom hair ties for Aubrey’s two ponytails. At Monday’s concert in the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, many fathers expressed hesitation about letting their daughters out in the showy Britney clothing.

“I think my daughter looks great. I mean, as long as she’s going to a concert and not on a date, which would be a different story,” said Nicholas Parkes, father of Angela, 7, who sported a sparkly blue halter with tight black pants, blue eye shadow, and blue hair glitter.

“As long as she’s with me, it’s OK,” said the 50-year-old Los Angeles resident.

Other dads went all out to match their daughters. “I had to get in the spirit and I look damn good,” said Brian Perry, 37, father of 8-year-old Britni. Perry, a Thousand Oaks resident, wore a Hawaiian-print bowling shirt with black satin pants. “I’m struggling hard to hold onto my youth.”

When Britni’s stepmom, Karris Aronson, 33, was asked about letting such little girls wear makeup, she winked and said, “Well, it sure beats a Marilyn Manson concert.”

* Times fashion writer Michael Quintanilla contributed to this story.

* Marian Liu can be reached at marian.liu@latimes.com.