Hot Mom, Hot Kid?

"I love how they dress their age.

And I don't love how that's remarkable."

~ Recent anonymous comment online about Sasha and Malia Obama
I'm back after a "Spring Break" from posting and then getting caught up at home from the Break! It takes a whole week to recover from Spring Break around here.
Anyway, my previous post was about looking older than I was 20 years ago, and today's is about even younger kids who do so as well. And I don't mean "looking older" in a dowdy, frumpy kind of way, like I did! I do mean 8 year old girls who are dressed by their parents to look like they are 16 yr old Lolitas. And this is a uniquely girl-only phenomenon. (Little boys start dressing like little men when they're a year old and continue to dress the same until they really are little old men.) If you are the parent of a girl, you know what I'm talking about unless you sew all your kid's clothing yourself and never have to go shopping for girls' clothes. And lucky YOU!
Suffice it to say that once you cross the line between infant/toddler outfits and girls 'size 6 and up' (and often even before you've crossed the line), you have to steel yourself against the slutty, tacky or merely inappropriate "Mini Me" clothes that are all they sell at many stores. If it's ever been your dream to have your kid dress exactly like you, well they certainly can! Right down to that Mommy tatoo on your arm/hip/ankle/lower back. It's a real and constant challenge to pick outfits for my almost 8 year old daughter from what's available that don't scream "tiny slut."
So for example, a bra for me, a bra for little 5 year old her:

This is a size 30AA bra that is basically sized to fit a little girl. Really little girl.

Attitude tee for me, attitude tee for 7 year old her:

Such cute graphics and not-so-cute sayings on tees.

Other actual attitude t-shirt sentiments seen on actual girls:

“Santa Loves a Hot Cookie”

"Dinner: $60. Movie: $40 dollars This shirt off: Priceless.'"

Sexy undies for me, sexy undies for 8 year old her:

Size 7-10. Won't these look great peeking out from the top of her jeans?

And don't even get me started on parents who dress their kids just plain old inappropriate for the occasion! For example, I can't tell you the number of kids I see daily, even in the winter, who are wearing flip flops to P.E. class at my daughter's school. Or tank tops on cold, wet days. Or shorts with high heel sandals all day at school when it's 42 degrees outside. Whatever.
So it's just been so nice to see photos of the First Daughters, Malia and Sasha Obama, who are 10 and 7 yrs old respectively, dressed as girls who are 10 and 7 yrs old! Wow, dressing age-appropriately, what a concept! All the body parts that need to be covered up are and nothing detracts from their smiles or from their primary mission: to just be kids.

Twenty Years Ago

Totally 80s style blue floral print Multiples outfit, plus icky 80s shoes and my favorite fake Fendi bag. Visiting Stanford University, March 1989.

My absolute favorite Multiples outfit--loved, loved, loved this one! I wore this everywhere. Apparently also wore the denim jacket everywhere too! A view of the Golden Gate Bridge after just crossing it. March 1989.

The new Units/Multiples by Sandra Garratt, the original designer of the 80s fashion craze. They look almost exactly the same and the prices aren't bad either. (Photo from Sandra Garratt Design website)

I posted the first two photos on Facebook three months ago, after my friend Tyra sent me a link to a website about the founder of Units. Units, and later Multiples, were these amazing cotton/poly knit separates (excellent quality, never faded) that were "convertible"--you could mix and match the solids (later prints too), wear certain pieces in different ways (as a belt or as a tube top!) and they were one size fits all. And according to the new website, the designer is selling her Units pieces again starting this year!

I hunted up pics of me wearing my beloved Units/Multiples pieces, and found several. These were from my Spring Break trip to visit family in the San Francisco Bay area in March 1989. Although I loved these outfits so much, I realized how OLD they made me look, and not in a good way. Dowdy-looking old, not sophisticated and chic old(er)! My uncle, who drove me to Stanford the day I wore the blue outfit, told me I looked "middle-aged." I didn't think so then, but he was soooo right!

I decided to post these pics on my blog because they were taken exactly twenty years ago this week. I was 18 years old in these pics, and yesterday, I turned 38 years old. 20 YEARS. Wow. The question is, if I wore Units/Multiples now, would I look my own age (now that I am middle-aged) or would I look even older?!