by Caperton Gillett
The mention of back-to-school fashion always evokes images of wool sweaters, corduroy pants, plaid skirts and sturdy shoes. But with school starting in the middle of August, parents in the Valley face a challenge in picking out seasonappropriate clothes from the wintry wares offered in department stores.
Local retailers have an advantage over majors for seasonal shopping, says Rick McKnight, owner of McKay’s and the Kiddie Shoppe. “When they buy for back-toschool, they’re not buying for fall in the South. We’re not going to dress our kids in corduroy when it’s 90 degrees, even if that’s all that’s in the department stores.”
Lisa Maxey, owner of 3 Wishes, said, “Parents will dress their children for the weather, not the season.” Fashion-conscious parents and tykes work around the weather by interpreting warm-weather styles and lightweight fabrics in the hot colors and patterns of the fall season.
Look for chocolate brown combined with orange, pink, aqua and lime as the summer winds down and deep red, plum and olive moving into fall. Light, airy woven cottons and cotton knits will keep kids cool, with wool blends and even cashmere moving in as weather permits.
Tots
In the South, fashions for the under-five set tend toward the traditional. Smocking and juvenile motifs remain prominent. Color palettes for little girls echo those of their older sisters, toned down to sweet mint greens, baby pinks and pale blues paired with chocolate brown.
Maxey says that two-piece smocked and embroidered outfits are particularly popular among her youngest customers for reasons of convenience. “They can wear them to school, play on the jungle gym, wear to gymnastics. If you have a dress, you’ve got to put bloomers under them,” she said. Look to Zutano and Le Top for age-appropriate but fashion-forward little-girl looks.
Little boys look just as sweet in smocked and embroidered long-alls and short-alls over T-shirts in juvenile prints. Tiny prepsters can find twill shorts, polo shirts in fall colors and ribbon belts in preppy patterns to match their golf-playing dads. Find tiny country club looks from Vineyard Vines.
Girls
Photo courtesy of Kiddie Shop.
Style begins to enter the conversation around size 6x. As younger girls become more aware of popular fashion through TV, magazines, the Internet and the older sisters they always want to emulate, demand increases for those items that will make them look like the big girls. “If Hilary Duff does it, then it’s cool,” Maxey said. “That can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on who your child identifies with.”
Both Maxey and McKnight make an effort to shop with an eye toward ageappropriateness — “If you dress your child like a 17-year-old, she’s going to act like a 17-year-old,” Maxey said — and school dress codes. “I try to avoid anything sleeveless,” Maxey said, naming one item banned in many Muscogee County schools, along with spaghetti straps and short skirts. “I don’t do strapless, and I don’t do logo-type tees.”
“We know that at a certain age, they can’t wear open-backed shoes,” McKnight said. “In terms of the length of the shorts, they can’t wear really short stuff. Sleeveless sometimes becomes an issue. We definitely buy with an eye for the local market.”
Luckily for fashion-conscious kids, this fall’s hot list is loaded with school-friendly items. Modest but trendy long skirts, long layers, capri pants and shrugs all figure prominently. Folksy, romantic looks follow the trends without showing too much skin.
Fall is a big season for the bohemian look, but this season leaves last year’s seventies- inspired bohemian behind in favor a more ethnic boho. The matrioshka doll becomes an unlikely fashion plate as Russian-peasant-inspired patterns and colors dominate skirts, shirts, dresses and pants. Embroidery and appliqué, much of it rustic and hand-sewn, figure prominently, and earthy neutrals and fur trim will recall the harsh winters of Siberia in the balmy Georgia autumn.
“This trend comes right out of the women’s section,” McKnight said. “You see embroidery, surface interest.” Embellishment, embroidery and sequins appear on sized-down versions of the wrap sweaters, capelets and shrugs girls will find in their older sisters’ closets. Peasant tops sport romantic ruffles, puckers, gathers and puffed, belled Juliet sleeves. Haven Girl, a division of Basil and Maude, makes age-appropriate young clothes that are just as fashionable as its parent company.
Traditional patterns get a new look for fall. “You’re going to see a lot of pumped-up paisley, swirls of paisley so you don’t even recognize them,” McKnight said. Little paisleys and plaids are pulled out and writ large in fall’s bright, bold colors.
Skirts are fall’s big fashion bottom, although jeans will always figure prominently with active girls. Knee- and ankle-length circle skirts, multi-tiered skirts and dresses, and even the occasional bubble skirt (for the truly fashion-forward girl) will make appearances, topped by long layering pieces and cropped wrap sweaters or shrugs.
Girls who stick with jeans will do it with embellished, distressed, rock-and-roll jeans and tie-dyed T-shirts with sequins and glitter. Capri-length denim helps active girls beat the heat, “or pants that might be long, and you can turn up six inches, and then turn them back down later,” said McKnight. Casual looks for tops feature rugby stripes, layered T-shirts and animal screen prints.
Many girls’ fashion statements will happen below the knee. Last year’s basic Mary Jane is a thing of the past, now appearing only when updated and embellished with sequins, jewels, glitter and embroidery. This year’s fashionable girl goes back to school in boots, short, tall and everywhere in between. The sleeper hit for fall will be the embellished cowboy boot, which was slated for last year’s fashion hot list but didn’t really hit in the South until this year.
Another major style point for girls will fall between the top of her boot and the hem of her skirt. “Last year, we probably had six or seven different colors of tights, plus black, brown and white,” said Mitchi Wade, a sales associate at the Kiddie Shoppe. “We’re going to do that again this year, pink, red, green, patterns.” Knee socks, textured tights and even leg warmers add color and interest without offending schools’ tamer sensibilities.
Boys
Boys’ fall fashions take the elementary school to the Ivy League with updates to traditional preppy looks. Wide horizontal athletic stripes and rugby stripes figure prominently, as do argyle patterns and plaids and varsity letters and numbers.
“Boys’ [fashion] has gotten a lot more colorful,” said Mary Ellen Florczyk, another sales associate at the Kiddie Shoppe. “I think it’s a lot more exciting, not so drab.” Corduroy pants move from beige and navy into bright oranges, lime greens, blues and chocolate browns, colors also appearing in solid and argyle sweaters and plaid shirts. Younger boys might like their bright cords with embroidered animals, boats and trucks. I
n the heat of summer, long shorts in preppy plaids keep boys cool. Garmentwashed and screen-printed T-shirts are popular tops, particularly animal prints in bold fashion colors and sports motifs. Dogwood offers boys’ knits, wovens and layering pieces.
Of course, some boys were just born to be bad, and they’ll be sporting rocker looks in distressed, embellished jeans and printed T-shirts. Boys too young to have heard of James Dean will be copying his look in zippered leather jackets. Boys who have never heard of Steve McQueen will be wearing his motorcycle jacket in slim silhouettes and racing stripes.
Boys’ shoes are getting “a little sportier, a little zippier,” McKnight said. Look for edgy, technological details like Velcro and bungee cords and rugged, outdoorsy accents on athletic shoes and retro color combinations and materials on casual shoes.
When the heat is gone
Maxey and McKnight know that parents spending money on school clothes want to get more than two months’ use out of them. Mild Georgia falls and winters leave plenty of opportunities to stretch key clothing items across several seasons.
“If we do a wool dress, we’ll do it in a short sleeve,” Maxey said. “That way, the child can start out wearing it in the early fall, and as it starts getting colder, put a cardigan over it. For our older girls, we like wearing twin sets. They can wear the shell when it’s warm, and then when it gets cooler, add the cardigan.” A skirt worn in summer with a T-shirt can go into late fall with a turtleneck on top and a bright pair of tights below.
The layered look is a hot trend for boys, but it also comes in handy for boys going from air-conditioned school to muggy bus stop, or from hot summer to cool fall. Expect to see summer’s popular screenprinted T-shirts over hoodies, under woven button-downs and over long-sleeved knit shirts.
In the end, parents intimidated by the search of teacher-approved clothes stylish enough for the kids can take comfort in one fact: it will still be easier than getting them out of bed on the first day of school.
