Kids wear straight from the runway
STYLE SCOUT
L.A. kids are dressing more like parents these days as celebrity small pints set the fashion.
WHEN Samantha Meiler shops for her son, she has a very specific look in mind: designer jeans, velour track suits, L.A.M.B. sneakers, a sporty-urban vibe.
"My son's style is very Kingston," she says, referring to Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale's boy. "I make no qualms about it. I see pictures of Kingston and I say, 'I want that outfit for my son.' "
Of course, lil' Rossdale is still a toddler, and Meiler's son is just 21 months old. But they're part of a growing set of pint-sized fashion plates, wearing shrunken-down versions of trendy adult clothes.
In the last few years, the obsession with dressing little kids like Dogtown skaters, Malibu moms and even Upper East Side socialites has hit a new, Suri-high level.
More clothing companies than ever are producing what the rag trade refers to as mini-me clothes on every price level. Marquee American designers, such as Phillip Lim and Marc Jacobs, are turning out Lilliputian renditions of clothes that sail down the runway each season.
European design houses that have a long tradition of producing children's clothes are paying more attention to their kids wear lines. Instead of just churning out jumpers in Burberry checks or Missoni waves, they're making children's clothes that look like grown-up togs in teeny-tiny sizes. So naturally, the fast-fashion folk have followed suit: H&M and Zara are turning out mini-me looks for kids of all sizes.
Lim's new collection for girls, Kid by Phillip Lim, mirrors his ready-to-wear line almost down to the pleat. "It's the first time a line has been so literally inspired by the adult collection," says Tracy Edwards, a vice president at Barneys New York, which carries the collection. "It's fresh and so current to what was happening in adult fashion."
For fall, Lim is offering structural pea coats, tunic dresses with massive bows, pleated and cuffed shorts and belted sweaters, for $55 to $325. "With this generation of new-age baby boomers, even though they have a kid now, they still have a specific aesthetic," Lim says, "and it relates to their whole life -- the type of car they drive, the shoes they wear. I was thinking that when they dress their child, they want something tasteful, something fun and interesting."
In L.A. there are still a few popular stores stocking traditional, expensive children's lines like Oilily and Pampolino, but most have transformed into emporiums for freakishly small adult apparel.
