Children’s fashion no longer boils down to just bibs, stroller charms and the only Crocs most fashion-concerned people can excuse. High-end and mass labels have been cornering the market in recent years, especially lately since in hard economic times, grown people still allow themselves to spend on their kids. And even more recently, kids have skyrocketed to the high fashion runways. Chanel cast a male model who was literally 2 years old for yesterday’s show, and two women have walked major shows this season with their future children growing in their bellies. One thing is clear: Kids are not a game. They are now fashion.
But this is not something everyone can handle. Australian label Witchery is getting heat for treating its kids’ clothes like adult clothes, and marketing them as such. The images you see here, in which the child models pose like jaded grown models, are offending children’s charity Barnardos, for one.
A Barnardos spokeswoman explains:
“They look like recalcitrant teenagers, I think this is a really dangerous direction,” she said. “I think it’s offensive. The whole point of early childhood is to be joyous and free. Children as young as five are now going on diets, are worried about how they look, how they present—this just should not be an issue for children. It’s really sad that people are trying to redefine what early childhood means.”
Yes all children must be happy! However, she has a point about the posing — there’s plenty of time later in life for that. Then again, they’re probably only like a month away from starting their adult modeling careers.
Are These Witchery Kids Lookbook Images Offensive and Dangerous? Or Are Grown-Ups Just Overreacting? [Racked]
