The other day someone offered to let me interview a ‘stylist’ on my blog. I was sat in the hospital with Amelie at the time, her leg up to the knee in plaster looking (as she always does) like a model while wearing a pair of scruffy shorts and an old t-shirt. I told her of the offer and she said “but you don’t do style, you are just mumsy”. It wasn’t an insult… although she could probably do with working on tact a bit. Truth is though, I don’t. I buy all my clothes cheaply in supermarkets or high street shops, I don’t wear make up and I own 2 pairs of shoes. My one vanity is that I get my hair cut and coloured every 3 months, because I’ve been going grey since I was 23 and I don’t want to be short, chubby and grey just yet. But nails, face, clothes – I can take it or leave it. Mostly, I leave it.
It fascinates me that my daughters all have very different approaches to clothes and style to each other and me. Fran is happiest in sportswear and has only very recently dipped her tow in the world of nail varnish and a bit of hair colour for the summer. Maddy has a quiet style that she puts together from an eclectic mix of hand-me-downs and pocket money purchases while Josie still belongs to what I’d say was an entirely appropriate 8 year old disinterest in how she looks. I can’t get any of them to wear skirts or dresses; they are leggings and trousers girls all the way.
Amelie, on the other hand, can make a bin bag look good.
Or a swimming costume.
She’s the one who cares how she looks, does her hair, thinks about outfits and would adore being dressed up to the nine’s in pretties if the option presented itself (so long as it didn’t involve a skirt). She has hankered after a pair kids Converse trainers (sneakers, shoes, things with laces?) for a very long time, but I can’t bring myself to pay money for something that I’ll have to wait for her to tie every time we want to leave the house.
We aren’t a household that can afford designer clothes for children on a regular basis, or even at all. It’s not that I am anti-label particularly, more that I simply can’t afford to spend too much on something that stands an outsized chance of being lost, trashed or worn out before its time. In the olden days, when clothes really were clothes, I handed stuff down from girl to girl but these days most stuff is cheap, lasts a few months and doesn’t appeal to the person next in line anyway. We nearly expired under the tidal swell of clothing waiting to be handed down, till I gave up and took it all to one of the places that gives you £5 for 10kg. I couldn’t face ebaying it and most of it would have made a charity shop roll their eyes and weep.
And I suppose that did give me pause for thought. Occasionally, for Christmas or a birthday, I spend that little bit more on clothing for them that I think about in advance, buy from reputable and affordable designer shops and try to co-ordinate a set of mix and match outfits to last a season or two. And they do last longer, get handed down, become favourites and things I’m happy to pass on to another sister or a cousin. I’m not fussed on buying a branded label just for the fun of owning a name, but perhaps I should try to do more long term planning and buy longer lasting, harder working, better quality clothing that costs a bit more but gives more back too.
What about you? Do you buy cheap, cheerful and short term kids clothing or longer lasting, more costly classics?
Disclosure: I have received recompense to write this post. My thoughts and opinions are my own.
My kids grow out of stuff so quickly that it would be a waste of money buying designer stuff. It’s not something we can afford and I would prefer to spend any extra money on trips and holidays. We get most of our kids’ clothes in the sales at GAP outlet. Good value, good quality and nice designs. Their shoes are normally Clarks/StartRite in the sales or at the outlets.
If I had money for expensive clothes I would buy handmade or Swedish, rather than ‘labels’.
You see I’m so very not good at these things that I pretty much count Gap, Next or Vertbaudet as designer – I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything more expensive! But we had something swedish recently and it is lovely.
We don’t buy designer but good quality, favourites are M & S, Swedish/Danish, Polarn O Pyret, Frugi, Mini Boden. Shoes, Start Rite or Converse. Designer ie, £50 per item type clothes no not worth it, I don’t consider the brands we buy to be designer. If we splurge then it is on Petit Bateau. I have 2 girls so clothes do the 5 year old for 2 years then the 3 year old another 2, I would never think of going to Primark or Matalan as the clothing is cheap and will not stand up to playing or years of use.
I love Mini Boden for my 5 1/2 yr old daughter, I’ve been buying her Mini Boden since she was about 2 1/2 yrs. When she was little it was mostly Mothercare & then as she’s got older it’s Next & Mini Boden mainly because I like their clothing, it’s easy to buy online & return if needed (I hate going out clothes shopping, especially with kids) & I get Nectar points. My little boy is nearly 3 yrs & his clothes are from Next & Sainsburys. I don’t rate Mini Boden for boys much, he’s had a couple of things from there. but it’s just so much more convenient for me to order online. It’s a shame Sainsburys don’t do online ordering for clothes, as we’ve recently moved we no longer have a Sainsburys near by. I don’t consider Next a designer brand, I find the prices are very reasonable, comparitive to supermarket prices sometimes. When they’ve outgrown them, then I sell them on ebay, Mini Boden is very popular on ebay & I’ve also bought dd some Mini Boden Jeans at a bargain price. I also bought her a pair of converse trainers for a steal. I guess I just stick with what I like & know.
I’m with you Merry – all hand me downs, charity shop finds and cheap High Street or supermarket. Only one of mine even thinks about what she puts on and I’m really rather proud of that. Boden keep sending me catalogues and I cannot believe the price of the stuff – I don’t even spend that on me!
I’m going back to work next week – part time lecturing – and have picked up a new pair of trousers today for that purpose – local hospice shop £3 brand new with tags from Marks. Result!
When they were little, Tesco own brand was de rigeur in this house. Very hard wearing – the boys jeans bought for daughter no. 1 are now in their 6th year with child no. 3 and plenty of wear left in them. These days it’s much more likely to be clothes bought two or three years in advance in sales when husband travels to USA (he takes a list of what they will need and previously has been very cost effective with the exchange rate) so GAP, Levi’s, and some designer brands with the rest made up from clothes bought in my favourite shop John Lewis – a mix of own and other labels. Won’t buy most things full price as don’t get the wear out of them but will get Joules etc when on offer. Best thing I like about JL given that i hate clothes shopping, and worse than that clothes shopping with children, is that you can shop on line & get delivered to Waitrose so don’t even have to travel into town but can pick up when doing the weekly shop. Brilliant. Went off NEXT for a while as the girls clothes have been a bit yuk the past couple of years but look a bit more promising this year (this was always the shop I aspired to buying from when at school as always got the cheap stuff/ hand me downs from friends older sisters which I hated).
Have been looking for people to pass little clothes onto and am now drowning so have taken to putting bag-loads into the recycling clothes bank at school. Poor parking at the charity shops and my general cant-be-bothered-lots-of-effort-for-little/any-reward take on eBay puts me off those options. There are some really nice things that I just don’t want to dump in the clothes bin but have yet to think of a better option. Still at least that is only down to one huge box rather than three so manageable for now. Good job I have a big loft!
Well now, I could go on and on about this. It’s a mix here – there are lots of hand me downs in the early years and stuff bought from nearly new sales and charity shops.
Now the bean is a bit older (he’s 6) his wardrobe is changing – he’s got school uniform of course (some of this is second hand) plus a lot of things which he has been given for christmas/birthdays. My in-laws got to the US once or twice a year, so usually come back with a pile of kids clothes from Target.
I also make stuff for all of them (knitted and sewn) No. 1 has had quite a few pairs of upcycled trousers and is currently wearing pyjama shorts which I made for him (from unworn pyjama tops). No 2 has recently been on the receiving end of some dress refashions – turning too small sundresses into skirts. She is much fussier about clothes than her older brother – and prefers things made of t-shirt material. At the moment her preferred dress code is a t-shirt and pair of shorts. I sigh when I see other small girls wearing fabulous cotton dresses with ribbon sashes and net petticoats (although at least I don’t have to make or buy them!)
No. 3 is still only teeny, so he has several years of hand me downs and nearly new stuff to come. However, given the 6 year age gap between him and his big brother, I have already decided I’m only going to keep stuff that is really worth it – things with plenty of wear and/or which are special in some way…
I have noticed some key differences in the way my children dress and the way I dressed as a child. I remember having special party clothes – but my children are never very interested in dressing up for parties, which usually involve bouncy castles or soft play or football or somesuch ‘activity’. I also remember having ‘old’ clothes which I wore for playing in the garden or exploring the woods etc. My children don’t really have old clothes….