On Dressing a Girl

As a young child, my mom dressed me much like a pilgrim. Well, maybe not a pilgrim exactly, but not like every other child on the block. My dresses and outfits could be described as classic rather than current. In the very best cases. And while I did look pretty cute sometimes, I didn’t exactly blend in. I vividly recall my first grade teacher complimenting my outfit one afternoon at recess. You don’t often see kids wearing kilts these days, she remarked. It’s so refreshing.

Flash forward to junior high. While everyone was wearing Jordache and Z. Cavaricci, I donned long skirts and button downs. I actually have a yearbook photo of myself wearing a corduroy vest. I’m pretty sure nobody else in high school wore a corduroy vest. Ever. Say what you will about being independent, but I do believe that my high school experience would have been a little less awkward had I just blended a bit more. If my fashion sense had been somewhat more… fashionable.

It took until college before I realized that I could dress however I wanted, and finally wore the jeans with intentional rips and layered t-shirts just like everybody else. And it was fun. I had a good decade of dressing well before trading everything in for the mom- yoga pants and sweatshirts I live in these days.

It came to my attention, recently, that my daughter was on the same track as me. Like my mom, I too, prefer girls clothes that look classic rather than trendy. I’ve refused to buy the faded jeans and Hannah Montana shirts that her friends all have. I shop discount for the good stuff, rather than the crap that falls apart. Corduroy pants are cute! But add some dated hand me downs to her “classic” closet, and even I could see that it needed some updating.

Last week, she proclaimed that she wanted some “cuter” clothes. Always up for a shopping spree, Jeff brought her to H&M for some retail therapy. They returned with six pairs of skinny jeans, a bunch of “cool” t-shirts and a metallic birthday dress. While the clothes are a bit skankier and have a few more zippers than I would like, I have to admit she looks adorable in them. She can be the well dressed girl that I always longed to be, and living vicariously through her is kind of cool.

But I draw the line at Hannah Montana shirts. And someday, she’ll thank me.