Is anyone else frustrated with the styles that dominate the girls' department?

[BikeBookBread]

I think he's dreaming of a dance.

[Mrs Mungo]

HAHAHAHA...I had to check my lasagna, not quite there but those outfits are great!

[LibraryLover]

I got a catalog from that mini boden place in the mail, does the website have decent sales? The catalog seemed expensive.

 

I don't go to Justice, it seems like their clothes are unreasonably expensive and low quality. I don't mind paying a wee bit more if the things are nice, but their things are expensive and NOT NICE. BOO!

 

 

 

 

As for Miniboden and value. Some yes some no (we;ve had a couple of pilly shirts). But mostly YES. I love their items. They are too cute and sweet. MB often has free shipping and 20% off. I have bought some items with holiday money from Grandma etc and have always been pleased. Most everything is lovely. Thick fabric, good dyes, well cut etc. We have a winter coat from them that is fantastic. It washes beautifully. If you can spare the $, I think you will be happy. Nothing has disappointed me yet. (Oh, we had a striped velour dress that wore like iron. It never faded and was soft & comfy. My dd loved it. She wore it with leggings even when it was too short as a dress).

Edited October 13, 2009 by LibraryLover

[LibraryLover]

I think he's dreaming of a dance.

 

 

LOL Gag Cough Cough Gag

 

 

But. That's cute!

 

I haven't ordered from HA since they sold the company.

 

Is the quality is the same?

Edited October 9, 2009 by LibraryLover

[LibraryLover]

Actually, I think they are padded so that the girls get a smooth look. Girls don't really develop evenly and it looks sort of weird. I think there is actually a reason for that.

 

 

I agree. My teen is very modest.

[BikeBookBread]

LOL

 

 

But. That's cute!

 

I haven't ordered from HA since they sold the company.

 

Is the quality is the same?

 

I've been a loyal HA purchaser since 2004. So far I haven't seen any change in quality since the sale (last year, right??). I have started noticing more "made in China" though. :glare:

[Mrs Mungo]

I've been a loyal HA purchaser since 2004. So far I haven't seen any change in quality since the sale (last year, right??). I have started noticing more "made in China" though. :glare:

 

Oh, boo.

 

I can't look at the site anymore. Looking at the winter stuff is making me sweat. It's 85 outside right now, it's 7:30 pm and has been dark for an hour.

[BikeBookBread]

Oh, boo.

 

I can't look at the site anymore. Looking at the winter stuff is making me sweat. It's 85 outside right now, it's 7:30 pm and has been dark for an hour.

 

Good idea...you'll save a lot of money. Just got the first Winter/Holiday catalog yesterday. :drool: But the first wave of winter stuff is also on sale today...it's Grandma Hint Time officially! (Grandma always likes to buy my girls' Christmas dresses.)

Edited October 9, 2009 by BikeBookBread
KILLING KITTENS QUOTING MRS. MUNGO!!!!!

[HSMom2One]

Actually, I think they are padded so that the girls get a smooth look. Girls don't really develop evenly and it looks sort of weird. I think there is actually a reason for that.

 

Sorry to disagree here, but there is no reason for preteen girls to have that much padding in their bra. If you think about it, there's been a drastic change in this over a period of years -- padded bras for girls in this age group have not been around (in the same quantities) as they are now. I'm convinced that this is just another example of the way our culture wants to grow up our girls too soon.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

[Tidbits of Learning]

Sorry to disagree here, but there is no reason for preteen girls to have that much padding in their bra. If you think about it, there's been a drastic change in this over a period of years -- padded bras for girls in this age group have not been around (in the same quantities) as they are now. I'm convinced that this is just another example of the way our culture wants to grow up our girls too soon.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

 

JCPenney's used to have the best training bras.

Bra's have gotten more and more padded over time. I gain a cup size with my bra and that is with the least padded one I can find. I certainly don't want my dd9 who just really needs a camisole but wants a trainer to look like she is a B cup with a training bra on.

[Slartibartfast]

Sorry to disagree here, but there is no reason for preteen girls to have that much padding in their bra. If you think about it, there's been a drastic change in this over a period of years -- padded bras for girls in this age group have not been around (in the same quantities) as they are now. I'm convinced that this is just another example of the way our culture wants to grow up our girls too soon.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

 

I just got some for dd from Target and they really don't seem that padded. I certainly don't think they are anymore padded than when I was that age.

[EthiopianFood]

Two words: Hanna Andersson. Their sales are very good, so don't be put off by their regular prices. Sign up to receive their e-mails for sale notices. If you are close to one of their outlet stores, their outlet sales are AWESOME. The quality is amazing -- some of their dresses are going on 4 years now after DD5 wore them for 2, and now DD3 is wearing them. Sometimes I stretch them even further by calling them "tunics" and putting leggings or pants under them. The styles are stylish, but still innocent.

 

They're having a particularly good sweater and dress (?) sale right now. You really should check it out.

[Mrs Mungo]

JCPenney's used to have the best training bras.

Bra's have gotten more and more padded over time. I gain a cup size with my bra and that is with the least padded one I can find. I certainly don't want my dd9 who just really needs a camisole but wants a trainer to look like she is a B cup with a training bra on.

 

The bra I'm currently wearing has no padding, whatsoever. It's made out of t-shirt fabric. But, I'm a D cup, maybe it's harder in smaller sizes? I don't know. My 13 year old dd's bras are from the Old Navy girls' department and are more slightly quilted than padded. Again, I think this is to help give a smooth appearance. Maybe I just mentally block out the overly padded ones and am not registering them?

[Wee Pip]

I agree! Dd 6 doesn't like jeans and dd 8 is a closer to size hefty (hefty's are big on her, but regulars are too small) so shopping is hard. When she was 4 yo, I took her shoe shopping at KMart. All the shoes had a high heel on them! I wondered, how on earth would my 4yo do normal 4 yo things, like walk and run?

[LaxMom]

The bra I'm currently wearing has no padding, whatsoever. It's made out of t-shirt fabric. But, I'm a D cup, maybe it's harder in smaller sizes? I don't know. My 13 year old dd's bras are from the Old Navy girls' department and are more slightly quilted than padded. Again, I think this is to help give a smooth appearance. Maybe I just mentally block out the overly padded ones and am not registering them?

 

Mine are all like that, too. From what I can gather (while shopping) the smaller sizes are plentiful. However, I recall training bras being padded, at least slightly, and assume that is to keep things from poking out. My cotton bras wouldn't do that. (Particularly for someone who only really has a poke)

 

We tend to buy at Old Navy, Gap and The Children's Place during sales. I rarely, if ever, see offensive writing on the clothes.

 

If anyone has a TCP outlet near them, we found several racks of girls' jeans (in the Freeport, ME store) for $2.99. Some had sparkles, most did not. All were adjustable waist.

[Elizabeth Conley]

We have our own challenges in this area. Our daughter is small and slender, but sturdy. She has fairly large feet. (When she popped out of the womb, hubby feared she'd been born with flippers.) Any how, we refer to these blessings as her stable foundation.

 

Finding shoes has been a chore. Whatever happened to Mary Jane's and sneakers? Why are there so many huge, heavy clunky shoes, and so many "trolling for twenties" shoes? My daughter just wants something reasonably comfortable that is appropriate for church and recitals. She also likes sandals to kick around in and shoes to wear while boating that don't scuff the boat or track in soil. Grrrr!

 

Then there's the clothes. She's so frustrated by the ugly, tacky, fall-apart fashions that we can rarely find anything at Walmart, Kmart or Target. We end up getting most of her stuff at thrift stores. Y'know all that really tiny lovely stuff that petite women send in and the rest of us can't squeeze into? Well I've finally stopped cursing this trend. If it weren't for those racks of size 4 petite clothes, my daughter would be sewing her own clothes.

 

Dresses are another sore subject. My daughter has decided not to wear them, ever since a bee got under her skirts at a civil war reenactment. (Yes, it was quite the drama, and she is a very dignified young lady who is quite distressed by "scenes".) From that moment on she was determined that she would not wear a dress again. How can I fault her? My paternal grandmother wore two dresses in her adult life. One was to her own wedding, the other to her son's. Even I prefer chiffon pants sets to ball gowns. It's not like there's no precedent here. Any how, finding Chickie formal wear has gotten really rough. She's right about the current fashions in dresses, they're awful. Trouble is, pant suits in her size are very hard to find. Every time there's a formal event, we somehow manage to cobble something together.

 

We traveled to Canada this fall, and did not see one badly dressed female. The stores were stocked with decent clothes. What's wrong with the U.S? Why are the clothing manufacturers dumping their worst products on us?

[stripe]

It's nasty. I've observed the stuff taking a step up at 18 mo. Yes, I'm serious. Halter tops for 18 mo old. And then the sparkly thongs for 7 year olds... I have seen lots of unpadded/lightly padded teen bras at Kohl's, though, if anyone's interested.

 

Boys are horrid too, though. Lots of skulls and rude sayings. I walked through JC Penney a year or two ago noting all the t-shirts; the only one that's stuck in my brain was in the young boy teen dept that had pictures of little brown dots and said "That's not chocolate." The rest all insulted various family members. And some stores barely have a boys' dept. -- I guess only girls buy clothes? What?

 

I love the Children's Place for boys' clothes, because they have a lot! and it's decent, but I'm not so crazy about it for girls' stuff. Too much tacky suggestiveness.

[Carrie12345]

We're not a conservative family by any means. We use cloth napkins in skull prints, my babies have worn heavy metal onesies, and I'm a sucker for cheeky (but not racy) slogans.

 

That said, I can't find jeans to fit my 6 or 7yos without showing off their panties, and that makes me nuts. To top it off, the girls are built completely different, so hand me downs are NOT working as well as they did when they were younger!

 

So far, we've found that Limited Too (haven't checked to see if the Justice jeans are exactly the same) fit my 7yo the best as far as length and waist (or should I say hips?), but we see her undies every time she bends over.

 

Target jeans tend to fit my 6yo, but she starts wearing out the knees in a matter of weeks.

 

Oh, and glitter is of the devil. :mad:

[MariannNOVA]

but we are in the process of replacing DD10's wardrobe that was ruined when her room was destroyed in our recent water damage.

 

We went to Lord and Taylor's -- found beautiful classic, tailored, play and dress clothes, undergarments, pajamas, robes, etc. Then, Talbot's Kids for more of the same. Hanna Andersson catalog, and anything along that vein are great. We have an LLBean here and I have found great stuff for her there.

 

We have had to stay out of Kohl's, Target, and the like as their trendy stuff is not what we are looking for, but for sweats and jeans and plain little capped sleeve t-shirts, they are fine.

[Tracy in Ky]

Land's End and Hanna Andersson have sweet clothing for girls. My dd age 8 loves their dresses and leggings. We lean more toward Land's End because their dresses are longer than Hanna, but both companies are great. Buy at the end of season for next season and you will save huge!

[amy g.]

My 15 year old and almost 11 year old buy all of their jeans, shorts and T-shirts in the men's/boy's department.

 

I even let my oldest wear jeans and boots to Saturday evening Mass. I wish we could find more of a middle ground, but at least she's not out in a mini skirt or low rise jeans.

[Leanna Tomlinson]

I have 4 very plain kids (wrt to clothing needs lol) , and I have never had any issues dressing them in jeans and T's! Old Navy has tons of plain items, and so does Gap and Target. My girls have a couple of skirts they wear with tights and they are good to go for anything! My 10 yr old is the easiest to dress and wears tights and tops, and gypsy skirts, plain brown, but cute Laura Ingalls boots, plain shirts etc. Where do you all shop??!! Even Gap/Target/Walmart has long skirts, long sleeved tops and cute tights! They are as mainstream as it gets. I buy most of their clothing at Savers and save so much money.

 

I wonder if different regions have different buyers? My aunt, in a different state, is always dressing her girls in cute things from Gap that I NEVER see in my local store. For instance, her dd has an adorable dress that is long and "Laura Ingalls" like. In our Gap, that same fabric was available only in a short skirt!?

 

My dd would LOVE to dress in gypsy skirts but our Target(s) and Walmart just don't have them in the store right now. I have been to both of these stores in the past 2 days and the only skirts available were short WAY above the knee length.

 

Maybe I need to take a shopping journey to another state...:)

[LibraryLover]

I just got some for dd from Target and they really don't seem that padded. I certainly don't think they are anymore padded than when I was that age.

 

 

I haven't noticed any dramatic bra changes myself. Much prettier, but there are plenty of options. Too many, in fact. lol

Edited October 13, 2009 by LibraryLover

[LibraryLover]

I wonder if different regions have different buyers? My aunt, in a different state, is always dressing her girls in cute things from Gap that I NEVER see in my local store. For instance, her dd has an adorable dress that is long and "Laura Ingalls" like. In our Gap, that same fabric was available only in a short skirt!?

 

My dd would LOVE to dress in gypsy skirts but our Target(s) and Walmart just don't have them in the store right now. I have been to both of these stores in the past 2 days and the only skirts available were short WAY above the knee length.

 

Maybe I need to take a shopping journey to another state...:)

 

In the past, I noticed Walmart clothes were horrible-- too sexy for littles--but not anymore. Target and Wamart have changed, imo. You could try Gymboree. If your children are still little, there is always www.basicbrilliance.com. It does not get anymore basic than that. We own a lot of their long sleeve dresses. They never change. The color dyes vary,. but nothing changes. If you have extra money from Grandma, this catalog is fab: www.miniboden.com

 

When I was in NYC this weekend I noticed that many of the little girls were wearing very long dresses with leggings. Very cute and sweet. Nothing improper, no words or letters on the butt etc.

[LibraryLover]

This is from the Walmart website. To me, it looks like a page right out of a Little House book...almost. Frilly high collars, plaids, dark leggings...

http://www.walmart.com/browse/Girls/Outfit-Sets/_/N-8ywsZaq90Zaqce/Ne-3w4l?catNavId=133202&ic=48_0&povid=cat133202-env200978-module245432-lLink2&ref=181605.418492&tab_value=5417_All

 

Towards the end there are some shorter skirts, but they are shown with leggings. The child wouldbe more covered up than if she were wearing shorts. (And perhaps some people don't allow their dds to wear shorts). I don't mind the shorter skirts on little girls anyway, as long as they style is young. My dd likes tights and leggings, so we're good there. In summer, she likes bike shorts under skirts or dresses.

 

I love this outfit! But the skirt is $38.

 

http://www.bodenusa.com/en-US/Girls-Skirts/32268/Girls-Raw-Edge-Gypsy-Skirt.html

Edited October 9, 2009 by LibraryLover

[stripe]

I went to a Hanna Andersson outlet while passing through Indiana. I only bought two things (t-shirt and skirt), for $5 each, but they still look great.

 

Here are their outlet locations per their website:

Outlet Stores

Michigan City, IN - Lighthouse Place

Kittery, ME - Tidewater Outlet Mall

Albertville, MN - Albertville Premium Outlet

Lake Oswego, OR - Oswego Towne Sq.

Williamsburg, VA - Prime Outlets

Woodinville, WA - Woodinville Center

[LibraryLover]

JCPenney's used to have the best training bras.

Bra's have gotten more and more padded over time. I gain a cup size with my bra and that is with the least padded one I can find. I certainly don't want my dd9 who just really needs a camisole but wants a trainer to look like she is a B cup with a training bra on.

 

 

Would she like these?

 

http://www.gap.com/browse/category.do?cid=6321

 

http://www.target.com/Girls-CCG-Day-Bra/dp/B0028MN31Q/187-1001537-0848054?ie=UTF8&search-alias=tgt-index&frombrowse=0&index=target&rh=k%3Abras&page=1

 

 

 

I don't own a padded bra. I have enough of my own, thankyouverymuch. I tend to buy mine from Target or Macy's.

 

This is a Traget link and most of these have no padding. Some look like they can work for younger girls as well:

 

.http://www.target.com/gp/search/187-1001537-0848054?field-keywords=bras&url=index%3Dtarget%26search-alias%3Dtgt-index&ref=sr_bx_1_1

Edited October 9, 2009 by LibraryLover

[Impish]

Sorry to disagree here, but there is no reason for preteen girls to have that much padding in their bra. If you think about it, there's been a drastic change in this over a period of years -- padded bras for girls in this age group have not been around (in the same quantities) as they are now. I'm convinced that this is just another example of the way our culture wants to grow up our girls too soon.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

I disagree. I had to go bra buying for Diva recently, and discussed padding with the sales clerk. She explained to me that slight padding (not dramatic the way some are) helps to prevent...ah...cold weather from having a visible effect, if you follow me.

 

I agree that some are way over the top, both with padding, sexy slogans, etc. But a slight bit of padding isn't a bad thing imo. I'd rather that than things poking out.

[DarlaS]

I disagree. I had to go bra buying for Diva recently, and discussed padding with the sales clerk. She explained to me that slight padding (not dramatic the way some are) helps to prevent...ah...cold weather from having a visible effect, if you follow me.

 

I agree that some are way over the top, both with padding, sexy slogans, etc. But a slight bit of padding isn't a bad thing imo. I'd rather that than things poking out.

 

 

Ooohh! Good point (no pun intended :D)!

[AngieW in Texas]

Justice has actually worked out well for my 11yo. It's one of the few places where she can actually find pants and shorts that are skinny enough. She doesn't like adjustable waistbands because she can feel the buttons on the inside. She wears Canyon River Blues slim jeans from Sears, but gets her other pants and shorts at Justice. It does take some hunting to find the shorts and pants that don't have any writing on them, but they do carry them. They also have shorts with enough length that I'm happy with them. Sometimes we go in and then turn right around and leave because they don't have anything that my dd will wear (or that I'd let her wear). Other times they carry a lot of good stuff.

 

My 11yo used to get most of her clothes at Children's Place, but their shorts kept getting shorter and shorter and shorter.

 

My 14yo dd does very well at Dillards, but that's because she wears nothing except their Copper Key solid-colored, elastic-waistband shorts with pockets along with a t-shirt that she tie-dyed herself. I would love for the shorts to be an inch or so longer, but they are the only shorts I've found so far that will work for her. She has fine motor delays that make buttons, snaps, and drawstrings difficult, so she has to have elastic waistbands. When it gets cold enough for pants we have a lot of difficulty finding solid-colored, elastic-waistband knit pants with pockets. Usually we can find at least two pairs at Dillards or Sears, but we haven't had any luck at all so far this year.