As a young child, I was never a frilly, pretty-in-pink girly-girl. I preferred cute separates in bold colors...and fortunately for me, so did my mother. However, bold colors were about the only thing my mom and I had in common in determining what should be in my wardrobe. I remember us going head-to-head about a lot of things. There were a few larger battles that come to mind...
The Battle of the Uniform
Black/white saddle shoes, blouses, skirt sets, and dresses were must-have staples in my back-to-school wardrobe. Mind you, I didn't even have to wear a uniform school but apparently my mother wanted me to look like it. She could care less if I looked "cool."
The Battle of the "Playclothes"
Because what's worse than wearing clothes you didn't really like in the first place? Old, outgrown, and often elasticized clothing that you hated and now had to put on as after-school gear to wear around the house. I could not catch a break.
The Battle of the Boys' Pants
The two pairs of navy and tan cargo cords that came from the boys' section. "I don't want these! These are boys' pants!" I exclaimed. "No they're not," my mom said. Oh they were definitely boys' pants, but my mother had decided she liked them so I was going to wear them. Fortunately for my budding self esteem, none of the other kids my age seemed to notice as I don't remember being teased about them.
The Battle of the Punky Brewster Sneakers
I may have lost the war, but I won this battle! I loved all things Punky Brewster, and when those high-top converse-like pink, blue, and all kinda color sneakers came out, I had to have them. My mother? Not pleased, but she gave in. Looking back on those and some other things I would've chosen to wear, I see that my mother had my very best interests at heart...because I had a tendency to gravitate towards tackaliciousness. So here are one of those moments where you look back and say "Ha! My mom was right..." Who would've thunk it...
So, here my I am as my adult self. I am all about fashion and self-expression and I still don't believe that little girls have to be dressed in pink and boys in blue. I do, however, believe that I no longer have a penchant for tackaliciousness. So I'm looking at some of the fun free-spirited kids today and I wonder..."Several years from now, will they cringe at their fashion choices?" and "To what extent should a parent dictate their child's style?" Let's examine a few kids from two of my favorite families: The Jolie-Pitts and The Smiths.
Shiloh Jolie-Pitt
What a little cutie. She's all that we expected she'd be and more. Over the past few months, this little one has adopted her own look...and its everything BUT girly. I really like and admire that at such a young age, Shiloh can look at her big sis Zahara in her girly dresses and be independent enough to say she doesn't want to wear that too. However, many (including myself) have raised an eyebrow at Shiloh Jolie-Pitt's recent wardrobe choices. Its not that she's not dressing like a little girl, but she's almost dressing like a metrosexual...man. Lets be honest, the kid has style. If this were a little boy, he'd be on the Best Dressed Kids list. BUT, he is a she.
This is what Angelina had to say about it:
"Shiloh, we feel, has Montenegro style," she said. "It's how people dress there. She likes tracksuits, she likes [regular] suits. She likes to dress like a boy. She wants to be a boy. So we had to cut her hair. She likes to wear boys' everything. She thinks she's one of the brothers."
So here are my questions: Do you think Angelina and Brad are going too far with allowing these wardrobe choices? Or do you think that more parents should be this encouraging of their children walking to the beat of their own drum? If Shiloh was a little boy who wanted to wear girls' clothes, do you think they'd go with similar free-spirited antics and allow him to wear dresses? And WTF is "Montenegro style???"
Willow and Jaden Smith
One word comes to mind when I think about these kids - pizzazz. These kids aren't just wearing outfits, they are setting trends. Rumor even has it that they may be coming out with their own clothing lines soon.
Their looks are a little wild. I don't know one single kid that could go to school with these outfits and come home unscathed. But the reality is that these kids aren't going to regular school. And nobody can say much of anything because their mom is fab, their dad is Will Smith, and they can buy any little punk that tries to come at them with that day's lunch money.
So here is my question: Would you allow your kid to dress in this style or would you want them to conform to one that's more traditional?
I hope my mom is reading this because I'd like her thoughts on this too. I really applaud these kiddies because I believe that its not so much what they are wearing, its that they are confident enough to do it.
