Fashion Lessons We Can Learn From Children
Light-up sneakers, sweatpants beneath dresses, macaroni necklaces, and hand-me-downs. Why have we forgotten these staples of our childhood wardrobes? What happened to all the patterns, sparkles, and mismatched outfits? Why don’t we all get dressed everyday with the passion of a toddler whose mom let us pick our own clothes?
During my gap year before coming to Middlebury, I worked as a nanny of two awesome kids: a 3-year-old girl, Penny, and a 6-year-old boy, James. One thing they taught me is that too often, we as a society forget all the wonderful lessons in creativity, self-expression, and simple joie de vivre that we can learn from children. During my year nannying, I learned to slow down and appreciate the small things, and I was reminded of the best forgotten moments from my childhood. Although I don’t actually believe we should all mimic our childhood outfits, I think we could all benefit from pausing for a moment to reflect on our younger days. So, without further ado, here are five important fashion (and life) lessons we can learn from children (with helpful insight from some real-life kids):
Be bold and don’t be afraid to stand out.
I often find myself basing my style on what everybody else has, obediently conforming to whatever look is “in” this season and “out” the next. But must we always abide by some unspoken dress code? Kids are never afraid to push the envelope with their outfits; they wear crazy colors, they don unusual accessories, and sometimes they wear nothing at all (though we probably shouldn’t do that). When I was last home over winter break and babysitting Penny and James, I asked them for their opinions on fashion: “The clothes you pick out for yourself to wear everyday,” as I explained to them in our very serious, very formal interview. I asked them how they liked to mix and match their clothes, in terms of different colors and patterns, and here’s what they had to say:
Penny: “I wear pink, pink, pink, pink, pink!”
James: “I like to just mix and match.”
Penny: “But… you’re gonna mix the primary colors, though.”
James: “Yeah. I wear a lot of blue and yellow.”
Me: “That’s great. Anything else?”
Penny: “I know! What’s your favorite color? Pink! I’m wearing a lot of pink! My underwear is pink! My favorite color is pink because I’m wearing pink underpants.”
The main takeaways? If you like it, the way Penny likes pink, then wear it! If you find a color combo as good as the primary colors, why not wear them together? The world is your oyster and the color wheel is your closet! With today’s fashion so often dominated by neutrals, don’t be shy to switch it up.
2. All clothes are for everyone! If you want to wear a dress, wear a dress.
The notion that your clothing options are limited to your gender identity is constrictive and exclusive. That’s not how it worked when we were kids! For my little brother, circa 2007, there was nothing more exciting than wearing my old clothes. He rocked my dresses, tank tops, and even my bikinis. To him, and all young children, “girl clothes” and “boy clothes” don’t exist: they are just clothes. And what could be better than getting to dress the same as your very, very awesome older sister? To continue to dismantle this outdated belief, we can take a little inspiration from ourselves in the early aughts and wear whatever makes us happy. Because, at the end of the day, feeling comfortable in your clothes is really the most important thing.
Me: “Here’s another question. Do you want to look really cool or do you want to be
really cozy? Or do you want to do both?”
Penny: “I want to look very cozy!”
3. The best fashion is sustainable.
It’s not breaking news that fast fashion is a huge contributor to the ongoing global environmental crisis. The fashion industry produces about 10% of all annual global carbon emissions, which is more than all maritime shipping and international flights combined. Today’s lower quality clothes and rapidly evolving trends are killing outfit longevity and resulting in more clothes ending up in landfills. We’ve all heard a hundred times that the big solution to combat this is to buy fewer clothes, to invest in high quality pieces, and to keep them in rotation for as long as possible. But this really doesn’t have to be so complicated! In fact, we’ve been practicing sustainable fashion since we were kids. Hand-me-downs are the original Depop and Poshmark, and children invented getting the most use from clothes as possible, finding something they love and wearing it until they can’t anymore. I, for one, wore my favorite shirt to picture day every year, from 1st to 4th grade:
4. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.
There has always been a stigma against “copying” other people’s style. Why? There’s nothing wrong with taking a little outside inspiration to influence your own outfit choices. In fact, dressing to emulate someone or something you admire should be seen as an act of appreciation rather than “stealing.” Kids certainly have no issue with imitation.
Me: “Ok, what’s your favorite outfit these days?”
James: “Steph Curry.”
Me: “Interesting, so how is Steph Curry an outfit?”
James: “So, you just grab his jersey, then you put on his shorts, and you put on his shoes and socks.”
If James can match with Steph Curry all the way down to his socks, there surely can’t be any harm in matching slightly with a friend or wearing something you liked on somebody else. For the entirety of my middle school experience, my friend and I wore matching purple pants every Thursday, without fail. Let’s not worry so much about imitation in our personal styles; how could looking like people we love or admire be a bad thing?
5. Don’t forget to have fun!
At the end of the day, isn’t fun the point of fashion anyways? Clothing is a powerful tool to externally represent your identity and have fun doing so, and it is an outlet of self-expression and creativity with endless possibilities. Fashion can mean whatever you want it to, and your personal style can reflect you however you please. Kids know this fact better than any of us, and they never fail to appreciate the fun and excitement of choosing an outfit every day.
Me: “Okay, so my final question for you is: What do you think the point of fashion is?”
James: “I think the point of fashion is to be too cool for school.”
Me: “Ooh, okay. What about you, Penny?”
Penny: “You should look fancy!!”
How does one dress “too cool for school?” What does it mean for a 3-year-old to be fancy? Who knows! For James, some days it looks like swim trunks and a t-shirt that says “I’m on Santa’s awesome list,” and other days it just looks like Steph Curry. For Penny, fancy could mean her favorite bunny-themed PJs, a Disney princess dress, or her brother’s old baby Carhartt pants and no shirt at all. But no matter what they choose to wear, kids never fail to take full advantage of their freedom to express themselves adventurously - something we can all be inspired by.