FASHION Born To Shop

MY FOUR-YEAR-OLD STARTED PRE. B>chool last fall. I had put together a small, sensible wardrobe for her-pull-on shorts, skorts, and pants mostly, suitable for running, climbing, fingerpainting, and the other rugged activities of her curriculum. She’d been in school about a week when she balked, loudly, as 1 helped her dress one morning. “Mama,” she announced plaintively, “I want to wear dresses like those other girls wear.”

My jaw dropped. Peer pressure in preschool? Fashion sense at the age of four? I had to admit I’d noticed that the girls in Anna’s class usually wore below-the-knee flowered dresses, with their tennis shoes, to school. But I certainly hadn’t expected Anna to notice, or care. Nevertheless, it wasn’t long before she was clamoring for decorator shoelaces and big hair bows (totally ridiculous in her Harpo Marx hair). And I was providing.

When I was a kid, my mother chose what I wore, and 1 recall being perfectly happy with her selections. Fashion consciousness is measured by awareness of what other people wear; by the time mine was developed, patched blue jeans were de rigueur and the cool place to shop was the Army-Navy store. It was another kind of parent’s nightmare entirely.

Today, fashion sense, even for tots, requires fashion dollars. And the original baby-boomers (like me) shell out plenty to keep the kids dressed in the duds they demand. According to a recent issue of Forbes, we spent about $60 billion last year on children four to twelve years old; this year that figure is expected to jump to $75 billion. A large part of the splurge goes for clothes-and the kids are doing the shopping.

Five-year-olds-boys, yet-know that only Keds (or, if they really want to play with the big boys, Nikes) will do. By the time they’re six, Nikes are the only footwear allowed. “Nobody wants Ree-boks any more,” one ten-year-old told me, in the tone he might use to refuse a serving of creamed spinach. Boys from six to ten dress so uniformly you might think their schools required it: Nike Air shoes (at $80 a pair), stone-washed jeans or neon jams, oversized T-shirts printed with the licensed craze of the moment-Batman, the Simpsons, Nin-ja Turtles, Dick Tracy-or the maker’s logo (Ocean Pacific, Gotcha, L.A. Gear), and, usually, a baseball cap. Hang a pair of neon mirror shades around his neck and put a Nintendo Gameboy in his hand, and you’ve got Beaver Cleaver, circa 1990. (There is an alternative style. “Bohemian types wear loafers and button-down shirts,” points out a teacher at Vines High School in Piano.)

“The girls have to have Guess jeans and skirts,” says Diana Jackson, a Park Cities mother of four. “Pretty much everything else has to come from The Gap. Esprit is over. Laura Ashley is over, for the older girls. They all wear Rolex look-alikes and they used to carry Louis Vuitton bags. Athletic clothes, like slicker shorts over biker shorts, have been in this summer, but they can’t wear that to school.

“I used to buy the kids one pair of Guess jeans and then buy other brands to fill in,” she says, “but then I found the kids were actually doing the laundry themselves so they could wear the Guess jeans and skirts every day. Now I just go on and buy the kinds they want. I don’t buy it if they won’t wear it; I’d rather spend more and get a few good things they really like.”

The quest for “the look” is no less intense in the Spielbergian kiddie culture of North Dallas and beyond.

“There is a lot of pressure to have the right clothes,” says a Piano schoolteacher, the mother of two preschoolers and a cheerleader advisor. “Brand name is very important on certain items. Jeans, for instance, have to be either Guess or Cavaric-ci-they cost about $72 a pair. Little kids recognize Ninja Turtles before they can read. I just try to keep my son away from all that while I still can-he hasn’t seen the movie and he doesn’t watch the TV show. But a lot of preschoolers are dressed like teenagers.”

Jo Ann Hart, owner of Peregrine Press and Gallery and mother of two preschoolers, has a different approach to side-stepping style pressure. “I decided right away that clothes are not worth a major family conflict. I let Sarah and Tommy pick out their own clothes, and unless it actually endangers their health, I let them wear what they choose, whether it’s ’appropriate’ or not. Occasionally, like when Sarah wanted to wear her new swimsuit to a gallery opening, I might talk to her about whether she really thinks she’ll be comfortable with her selection. (She wore the swimsuit, but under a long T-shirt.) But usually, they’re both very creative dressers and they don’t usually ask for brand names or the licensed stuff.”

“The kids now have a developed sense of taste,” points out Susan Sleeper, mother of two daughters, ten and three. Not just what to buy, but how to wear it. Layer the lace leggings under the miniskirt, pull the plastic shorts down on your hips, peg the jeans, tuck your T in the front but not in the back. “They know what to buy and how to put it together.”

And why not? These are kids who hang out at malls instead of parks or playgrounds, who have TV networks, complete with game shows and movie reviews, aimed at them, and who have been raised to shop. Advertisers spend hundreds of millions for Saturday morning time, sponsoring shows only kids will watch. The elusive shifts of what’s hot and what’s not may be hard for a parent to keep up with, but it’s become big business as the buying power of pre-preteens has burgeoned. Esprit de Corps started its Esprit Kids in 1986; the outlet store on McKinney is a mecca for shopped-out Metroplex moms. GapKids, Laura Ashley Mother & Child, Kids R Us have all moved into the kids’ duds market, betting they can predict and cash in on the taste of four- to twelve-year-old children. Local stores like Children’s Collection, Andra’s, and Silhouettes are competing for the same dollars, trying to read the same crystal ball.

“Little kids always opt for bright colorsand glitz,” states veteran Carol Wells, whosejam-packed children’s boutique, Silhouettes,has been a hit since it opened almost adecade ago. “And comfort is always numberone with them. But to figure out why theychoose one thing over another? I wish Iknew. It’s still a mystery.”