Children's clothing or kids' clothing is clothing for children who have not yet grown to full height. Children's clothing is often more casual than adult clothing, fit for play and rest.
In the early 21st century, however, childrenswear became heavily influenced by trends in adult fashion. Grandma bait is a retail industry term for expensive children's clothing. [1] Due to the rise of social media platforms such as Instagram, celebrities and fashion bloggers have been using their accounts to post pictures of their children wearing luxury "street style" clothing, thus inspiring parents to dress their children as they would dress themselves. Good quality, well-designed garments are a priority for some parents, and children's clothing is getting a prime place in top-label stores and high-end fashion retail outlets. Clothes are also getting separately designed for boys and girls at a very early age. [2]
Childhood is distinct from certain parameters in all societies, from infancy to adolescence; societal expectations about children's abilities, limitations, and how they look are present at all stages of their development. In every era, clothing plays an important role in the "look" of childhood. An overview of the history of children's clothing reveals changes.
Children, regardless of gender, shared styles and cuts before the twentieth century. From the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, both men and women wore gowns, tunics, and robes. The gown became a thing for women, newborns, and toddlers only after men's attire evolved into two-piece clothes, shirts, and breeches. Children's styles evolved from gowns to adult garments as they grew older. [3]
Swaddling was popular for a short period, but ankle-length white frocks and slip skirts for babies and crawling toddlers were popular around the 1500s since women wore ultra-fine muslin and chemise dresses in the 1700s, which looked remarkably similar to the attire worn by young children since the middle of the century. Children's gowns were given additional accessories like waist belts as kid's fashion grew.
Another look that gave the ideal example of women's neoclassical fashion was this one. Most women, girls, and toddler boys wore garments made of lightweight fabrics like silk or cotton during the 1800s. [4]
While men's clothes changed dramatically as they grew older in the nineteenth century, girls' dresses stayed relatively unchanged. Women's attire did not alter much in terms of cut or stylistic detail, from their birth robes to the skirted outfits they wore their entire lives. The fundamental distinction between children's and women's fashion was that the length of the dress steadily increased, eventually reaching the floor by mid-adolescence. [2] [5]
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Function and design must meet at the right proportions in children's clothes for them to be popular and accepted. Fabric choices, openings and fastenings, fit and ease, and trimmings used are all major considerations when designing children's wear. Some other factors a designer designing for children's clothing should focus on are the changing shape of the growing kid and different proportions of the different parts of the body.
Leisurewear and sportswear are two very prominent design styles in children's clothing.
School uniforms are another type of specialized clothes for children.
American sizes for baby clothes are usually based on the child's weight. European sizes are usually based on the child's height. These may be expressed as an estimated age of the child, e.g., size 6 months (or 3–6 months) is expected to fit a child 61 to 67 centimetres (24 to 26 in) in height and 5.7 to 7.5 kilograms (13 to 17 lb) in weight. [5]
Children's clothing is also sometimes worn by adults who are very short. [4]
Gender-specific clothing for young children was rare throughout most of history, for purely practical reasons. [6] This included both the type of clothing and the color. [6] Before birth, the parents did not know whether the baby would be a boy or girl; white clothes were easier to clean; and less clothing was needed, since all of it could be used for any baby, instead of parents feeling like they should buy or make a full set of pink dresses for one baby and then a full set of blue overalls for the next baby. [6]
Before the 1940s, young boys and girls alike wore short dresses. [6] In the US, during the 1940s and 1950s, boys were dressed like their fathers, which meant shirts and trousers and the same colors that their fathers wore. [6] From the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s, the fashion for American girls was unisex clothing, such as jeans and T-shirts. [6] Thus American fashion transitioned from having both boys and girls frequently wear dresses in the 19th century to having neither always wearing dresses by the 1970s. [6]
Gender-specific colors emerged in the middle of the 20th century. [6] Clothing was expensive, and white clothes could be bleached when they became dirty. [6] Consequently, colored clothes were not used for babies until the Victorian era, and at that time, any child could be dressed in any color. [6] The color code of using pink primarily for girls' clothes and blue primarily for boys' clothes did not appear until the 1940s onwards. [6] [7] In fact, in the first part of the 20th century, light blue clothes were recommended for American girls, as being the more "delicate and dainty" color, and pink was recommended for boys because it was the "stronger color". [6] Other color-coding schemes recommended that the colors be selected to coordinate with the child's hair or eye color, with blue being recommended for blond hair or blue eyes.
Children's clothing in the English-speaking world has become increasingly segregated, with young girls especially being expected to wear pink. Peggy Orenstein writes in her book, Cinderella Ate My Daughter , that pink-coloured and princess-themed clothes are almost ubiquitous for young girls in shops in the United States. She sees this as problematic because it limits girls to not only one colour, but also to one spectrum of experience, and it "firmly fuses girls' identity to appearance." [8] In reaction to this situation, a campaign group Pinkstinks was formed in the UK in 2008 [9] to raise awareness of the gender stereotyping of children. [10] Further, clothing companies have started to sell clothes that are unisex or gender-neutral, such as the Swedish company Polarn O. Pyret, [11] while others have been founded specifically to offer such items, such as Tootsa MacGinty. [12] [13]
Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, sensitivity, tenderness, sweetness, childhood, femininity, and romance. A combination of pink and white is associated with innocence, whereas a combination of pink and black links to eroticism and seduction. In the 21st century, pink is seen as a symbol of femininity, though it has not always been seen this way. In the 1920s, light red, which is similar to pink, was seen as a color that reflected masculinity.
A wedding dress or bridal gown is the dress worn by the bride during a wedding ceremony. The color, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants. Wedding dresses hold a significant place in fashion, symbolizing personal expression, and cultural traditions and societal values. In Western culture, the wedding dress is most commonly white, a fashion made popular by Queen Victoria when she married in 1840. In Eastern cultures, brides often choose red to symbolize auspiciousness. These wedding dresses often represent a blend of heritage and contemporary trends, making them a pivotal aspect of bridal fashion and a reflection of evolving style in society.
A dress code is a set of rules, often written, with regard to what clothing groups of people must wear. Dress codes are created out of social perceptions and norms, and vary based on purpose, circumstances, and occasions. Different societies and cultures are likely to have different dress codes, Western dress codes being a prominent example.
Clothing terminology comprises the names of individual garments and classes of garments, as well as the specialized vocabularies of the trades that have designed, manufactured, marketed and sold clothing over hundreds of years.
Fashion in the years 1750–1775 in European countries and the colonial Americas was characterised by greater abundance, elaboration and intricacy in clothing designs, loved by the Rococo artistic trends of the period. The French and English styles of fashion were very different from one another. French style was defined by elaborate court dress, colourful and rich in decoration, worn by such iconic fashion figures as Marie Antoinette.
Fashion in the period 1795–1820 in European and European-influenced countries saw the final triumph of undress or informal styles over the brocades, lace, periwigs and powder of the earlier 18th century. In the aftermath of the French Revolution, no one wanted to appear to be a member of the French aristocracy, and people began using clothing more as a form of individual expression of the true self than as a pure indication of social status. As a result, the shifts that occurred in fashion at the turn of the 19th century granted the opportunity to present new public identities that also provided insights into their private selves. Katherine Aaslestad indicates how "fashion, embodying new social values, emerged as a key site of confrontation between tradition and change."
Fashion in the period 1700–1750 in European and European-influenced countries is characterized by a widening silhouette for both men and women following the tall, narrow look of the 1680s and 90s. This era is defined as late Baroque/Rococo style. The new fashion trends introduced during this era had a greater impact on society, affecting not only royalty and aristocrats, but also middle and even lower classes. Clothing during this time can be characterized by soft pastels, light, airy, and asymmetrical designs, and playful styles. Wigs remained essential for men and women of substance, and were often white; natural hair was powdered to achieve the fashionable look. The costume of the eighteenth century, if lacking in the refinement and grace of earlier times, was distinctly quaint and picturesque.
A romper suit, usually shortened to romper, is a one-piece or two-piece combination of shorts and a shirt. It is also known as a playsuit. Its generally short sleeves and legs contrast with the long ones of the adult jumpsuit.
Baptismal clothing is apparel worn by Christian proselytes during the ceremony of baptism. White clothes are generally worn because the person being baptized is "fresh like the driven manna". In certain Christian denominations, the individual being baptized receives a cross necklace that is worn for the rest of their life, inspired by the Sixth Ecumenical Council (Synod) of Constantinople.
The most characteristic North American fashion trend from the 1930s to 1945 was attention at the shoulder, with butterfly sleeves and banjo sleeves, and exaggerated shoulder pads for both men and women by the 1940s. The period also saw the first widespread use of man-made fibers, especially rayon for dresses and viscose for linings and lingerie, and synthetic nylon stockings. The zipper became widely used. These essentially U.S. developments were echoed, in varying degrees, in Britain and Europe. Suntans became fashionable in the early 1930s, along with travel to the resorts along the Mediterranean, in the Bahamas, and on the east coast of Florida where one can acquire a tan, leading to new categories of clothes: white dinner jackets for men and beach pajamas, halter tops, and bare midriffs for women.
The preservation of fabric fibers and leathers allows for insights into the attire of ancient societies. The clothing used in the ancient world reflects the technologies that these peoples mastered. In many cultures, clothing indicated the social status of various members of society.
A back closure is a means for fastening a garment at the rear, such as with a zipper, hooks-and-eyes or buttons. Back closures were once common on Western female clothing, but have recently become less so, especially on female casual and business attire. They continue, however, to be widely used in underwear, formal wear and specialized clothing. Back closures are also common in garments for infants and toddlers.
A dress is a one-piece outer garment that is worn on the torso and hangs down over the legs and is primarily worn by women or girls. Dresses often consist of a bodice attached to a skirt.
Breeching was the occasion when a small boy was first dressed in breeches or trousers. From the mid-16th century until the late 19th or early 20th century, young boys in the Western world were unbreeched and wore gowns or dresses until an age that varied between two and eight. Various forms of relatively subtle differences usually enabled others to tell depictions of little boys from those of little girls, in codes that modern art historians are able to understand but may be difficult for the layperson to discern.
Fashion in the twenty years between 1775 and 1795 in Western culture became simpler and less elaborate. These changes were a result of emerging modern ideals of selfhood, the declining fashionability of highly elaborate Rococo styles, and the widespread embrace of the rationalistic or "classical" ideals of Enlightenment philosophes.
Hanfu, are the traditional styles of clothing worn by the Han Chinese since the 2nd millennium BCE. There are several representative styles of hanfu, such as the ruqun, the aoqun, the beizi and the shenyi, and the shanku.
Infant clothing or baby clothing is clothing made for infants. Baby fashion is a social-cultural consumerist practice that encodes in children's fashion the representation of many social features and depicts a system characterized by differences in social class, richness, gender, or ethnicity.
Traditional Newar clothing refers to the everyday clothes worn by the Newar people of Nepal who are indigenous to the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding regions. The garments are associated with the old aristocracy, merchants, farmers, craftsmen and professionals.
The clothing style and fashion sense of the Philippines in the modern-day era have been influenced by the indigenous peoples, Chinese waves of immigration, the Spaniards, and the Americans, as evidenced by the chronology of events that occurred in Philippine history. At present, Filipinos conform their way of dressing based on classic fashion or prevailing fashion trends.
The colors pink and blue are associated with girls and boys respectively in large parts of the Western world.