Dressing your little ones

How much are you willing to spend to make your little angel look, well, angelic? A Toi-sized amount that is as unique as it is cute?

An exhibition-sized amount that makes her look like any other adorable girl in church? Bespoke outfits that will be outgrown in two-months and make for pretty amazing hand-me-downs for the lucky child who is a newborn?

Or will you bump into that Naija mum in Louis Vuitton as you admire the stitching of a vintage onesie?

It makes you both part of what is now known as the luxury children's market. I have shopped for several babies in my time.

RECOVERING

I also saw a onesie that swore it was for months five to seven stretch over a boy who grew like he was inhaling steroids outgrow it by the end of month one. I am still recovering.

Mainly because age means nothing on baby clothes, and their height and waist sizes do. Yes, I can just see you calling the mother of a two-year-old to check height and waist fit, and her scrutinising it with a tape measure she kept just for moments like this.

You know shoppers are? Grandmothers. With the gift of eyeballing the heck out of an estimate.

They are also the only people a mother cannot instruct to not shop or return an outfit, an innate advantage few consumers enjoy!

An IBISWorld report from Australia says: “The infants and children's clothing retailing industry has performed well over the past five years, despite turbulent retail conditions.” So well it grows by more than two per cent a year and is worth $3 billion.

Here is the riveting part. They have no record of companies with a dominant market share. It is anyone's market. The thing is, the industry is not just the shrinkage of adult clothing. These are miniature designs made with children in mind. And I do not mean throwing ribbons and lace at girls and making things blue and green for boys.

WITH ACCESSORIES

Celebrity clothing lines have risen up, thanks to the Hollywood baby boom that turned infants into accessories.

Fashion houses have clothing lines with accessories like bags, shoes and hair accessories for little ones.

Conglomerates and department stores like Zara, H&M, Tesco, Target, Wa-Mart and Primark have affordable, stylish and minimalist children wear, and 75 per cent of all shoppers in this area like those. Kenyan shoppers ship these stores by the way, not just the international middle class consumer. The manufacturers all keep in mind the all-important factor — children grow.

Their lines go as far as tweens, a whole new group slapped with the label of Gen Z, who have an eye for 13 and 14 year more sophisticated styles.

Of course things like fabric, a large factory, trends swathed in blue, green and pink as staple colours, and even the location of a store, affect business.

OBESITY

A trait influencing children’s style in the US currently is obesity, where sizes are not what they seem, and stocking plus-size clothes is now considered simply smart business.

Children have trends from adult worlds trickle down such as athleisure wear and are just as easily influenced by the hip hop culture, preppy looks and yes, even mini-me beauty pageants.

FASHION IDEAS

If you have an eight-year-old girl who will not be caught dead shopping with mum, it's not you.

By then they are getting fashion ideas from Bey and RiRi and there is little you can do about it except check out the M&S catalogue as well as Topshop (Bey did a clothing line with them, so there) for ideas and style management, then shop with that in mind.

Stores know they need to make clothes child-appropriate, and just because she wants to dress herself does not mean you can’t help make good choices.

Boys are influenced by celebrities too. Dad, check your viewership and conversation. Boys like active, athletic men and dress like personalities they look up to.

INSTAGRAM PARENTS

Wealthy folk will walk into Calvin Klein for their children, and old money apparently likes The Gap. Then there are the proudly African parents in the diaspora who want an ethnic look for their children, creating a growing arm of fashion of diminutive kings and queens, not to mention Instagram parents who style they toddlers into superstars who get clothing and lifestyle deals.

Do not be surprised so many children want to be popular, attractive and famous. They are not dumb. They see it being done.

They go for functions where I meet parents who ask me how their little ones can get into modelling.

I say join a modelling school. You know why? It gives them confidence, they have fun, they do not get attached to their looks — I know, the irony — they learn to be easy around fashion, and you will stop being so attached to their self esteem next time you want to hyperventilate when your nine-year-old picks a sheer top, no bra.