I have expressed my dislike of some of today’s fashions in earlier blogs. I shared pictures of gorgeous Victorian era gowns and the glamorous hats worn by the genteel women of yesteryear. I have expounded on the ’sleazy’ look of many of today’s teenagers and stressed that years ago clothing was very elegant and classy. But I wonder how this ‘good old days’ theory applies to children.

To do a comparison, I went to to our home library and found “The Wonderful World of Ladies’ Fashions – 1850-1920.” While the majority of the book covered women’s attire, there are some pages that address the styles for children.

We have 5 grandchildren of varying ages so we do have an idea of what kids’ fashions are these days. Baggy pants with designs from musical groups or rappers. Lots of t-shirts with rock bands, skull and crossbones, some with sassy sayings. Some are cute and make you smile or even chuckle. Others cause you to stare, drop your mouth open and wonder what the parents were thinking, letting them out of the house that way!

Our almost-teen-ager loves to wear deep colors, (NEVER PINK), but dark tops with spooky faced creatures, and fitted, black pants. She also chooses leather bracelets, black choker necklaces and bandannas with pirates and the like. That’s just fine with her parents and us. It is just her style.

After looking at these outfits, I wondered what our 12 year old granddaughter would think of the fashions of years gone by. I also was curious how her brother, who is 8, would like to show up in one of these outfits when playing sports or biking.

Can you picture our young ‘tomboy’ wearing this when going to the skateboard park? She would be laughed out of the park. And we need not mention the strong possibility of her falling off the jumps from the weight of the hat!  

Young girls almost always had huge bows in their hair – would she be willing to drop her bandanna with the skeletons for a big pink tied-up ribbon? I doubt it.  And how about our young lad who loves his cargo shorts and shirts with super-heroes? Would he feel special wearing this outfit? Knickers and bows on his shoes would be especially cool on the basketball court, right?

Those long skirts would also pose a problem for the active kids of today. Can’t ride a bike, or climb a hill or even run. But even if she got past the idea of never wearing long pants, dressing in soft pastel outfits with bows, ribbons and lace, she could never agree to this outfit. Lots of fur, from the hats to the collars and, of course, a large muff! Made of fox, ermine, beaver, and raccoon, she would surely protest, knowing how she loves animals. But you view the pictures. Notice that all the girls were wearing them, and with a smile.

While I applaud the fashions of yesteryear in many instances, it does not make a lot of sense for the active children of today. Can you even imagine all of the horrific keyboard injuries from texting and going on MySpace wearing those delicate white gloves? And what about those wool swimsuits that came almost to the knees? Those could prove dangerous in the Y-pools for sure! (And didn’t they smell like wet mittens too?)

So while I think we sometimes go overboard with our ‘funky fashions’, a look back has not convinced me that things were better in the ‘good old days.’ But you collectors of vintage children’s fashions still love to find them, display them and perhaps dress your dolls or teddy bears in them. While you might have some success at thrift stores, your best bet would be to shop the antique malls where we frequently find booths that specialize in vintage clothing.

================

Gotta Collect? Then You Gotta Connect - Join our Collectors’ Community!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 at 4:43 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.