‘Tween Gets Fashion Advice From an Amateur

Friday, August 24, 2007

Page 11

AT THE SIDEBAR (Column)

‘Tween Gets Fashion Advice From an Amateur

By J’AMY PACHECO

“Mom, can I pick out my own clothes?”

My daughter was at least 10 before I heard that question. Since she’s never been much of a morning person, I have for years been leaving each day’s clothing out for her before school. Her only responsibility has been making sure everything ends up on the right body part, preferably right-side out.

Unless we’re leaving the house, weekends are pretty much spent hanging out in pajamas. When we leave the house, we’re usually in such a rush that I pull clothes out of the dryer and toss them to her with instructions to put them on.

On the rare occasions that she asks to choose her clothing and actually has time to do so, she will usually come downstairs in garments that don’t match, no longer fit, or are completely inappropriate for our intended destination. I continually remind myself that I need to provide some instruction in clothing selection, but I never do anything about it.

Part of the problem is that I’m not exactly what you’d call a fashion plate. Most of my work clothes are either black, gray or red – not because I love these colors, but because I know I can grab just about anything out of the closet (or dryer) and it’s likely to match anything else I throw on. My weekends are spent in Disney t-shirts, long shorts and flip-flops.

I’m probably the person least qualified to provide fashion advice. But it looks like things are going to have to change.

In just a couple weeks, my daughter will start her last year of elementary school. That means, of course, that we’ll have to go school shopping.

We’ve already picked up notebook paper and folders, but we’re going to have to throw ourselves into the clothing department in the very near future.

We actually took a baby step recently, when my daughter was invited to a friend’s house to watch the premiere of “High School Musical 2.” ‘Tweens can’t watch HSM2 without the proper attire, so we zipped over to our local department store in search of a Zac Efron t-shirt.

While I searched for a shirt, my daughter discovered a sale rack, and pulled out a brown sundress with polka dots. She desperately wanted it for school.

Now, I can’t tell my brown-haired, brown-eyed girl that I don’t care for the color brown. Thank goodness chocolate comes in a dark shade, because otherwise, I probably wouldn’t like it. So instead I told her that the inch-wide shoulder straps were too much like the spaghetti straps her school forbids.

She was sad, but understood the pointlessness of spending money on a dress – even on sale – that she couldn’t wear to school. So we compromised, and she picked out a beautiful pink, lacy blouse that she won’t be able to wear until the weather cools.

Over the weekend, I discovered a school-shopping feature inside one of those glossy magazines that come inside the Sunday paper. I thought it might help, because it contained, I read, images of “real” kids exploring the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles wearing “field-trip ready, retro-influenced back-to-school clothes.”

Kids in L.A. must go on different field trips than us desert folk, because the boy on the first page was wearing a blazer – something “real” boys only wear on picture day or at graduation. This $265 blazer was worn over a striped wool hoodie with a price tag of $136.

I’ve chaperoned a few field trips, and I’ve never seen a kid in a $136 hoodie or a $265 blazer. That’s because kids on field trips always come home with something new on their clothes – usually food, but sometimes blood, or even barf.

I saw another picture of a girl exploring Exposition Park in a $133 blouse, $140 shorts, $274 jacket, $70 hat, $25 tights (for two pair) and $45 ballet slippers. Another child sported $302 boots.

Who are they kidding? No child explores any park tiptoeing carefully around in $302 shoes. I’d give those clothes 10 minutes in the woods or on the playground with “real” kids – who likely couldn’t possibly afford them anyway.

Since a Rodeo Drive shopping spree is out of the question, I guess we’ll just have to wing it, and compromise. We’ll look for clothes that make sense, match, and would survive a real-world field trip.

Suddenly, that brown polka-dotted sundress is looking like a good idea…