Kids and Colors HANNAH HLOPAK
Children fashion trends, specifically the colors used in fashion are leaning toward earthy tones that are muted or dulled as a base coupled with hues of pastel colors that represent a fun, upbeat youth lifestyle. These color palates are apparently designed to make youngsters feel at home in a safe, structured environment. Top fashion designers are looking to make the world seem less fragmented. Unfortunately, social media plays more of a role in influencing children’s fashion than fashion experts. In fact, children are likely to be influenced by amateur bloggers who are often just an average mother of three than someone who has actual fashion industry training. Social media influencers, and not industry experts, is driving what children actually buy and wear. Unlike the past generations, today’s youth is very dependent on both social media and their parents to tell them what to wear and what looks good on them. Children today are often the “mini-me” of their parents and become the central characters in blogs dressed in adultinfluenced clothing. Their parents actually do the blogging, but their children are the center of attention as they look to influence other youth – or more likely their parents. Technology is corrupting the minds of today’s youth, according to some experts, and is clearly leading to anxiety and low self-esteem. So what happened to the easy days of playing outside and getting pot-dirty in mismatched clothing? It’s not the children who decide what to wear; it’s today’s generation of parents and other amateur bloggers looking to influence (fashion), if just for influence sake. Younger generations see designer and adult clothing in everything from what their parents wear to what other children are wearing in their favorite blog.
Therefore, youngsters don’t know any better than to dress, or at least want to be dressed in clothing that does not represent youth a distinct person or a separate generation; it’s what children perceive society “wants” them to be. Social media has become a huge part of our world and therefore has changed many industries including fashion. For instance, trends are based a lot off of fads that first start on platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumbler, and Pinterest. With the rise of social media influencers, we must consider the minds behind the keyboard or hashtag. One of 2016 most influential fashion bloggers is a lawyer by degree who started her blog only two years prior. Even children as young as 4 years old have their own blog and Pinterest sites with their parents behind the image. Many of these youngsters are sporting the latest in adult fashion, but scaled down to children sizes. Major clothiers like Burberry recognize the necessity of using such influencers to push their products. Burberry contracted David Beckham’s 17-year-old son to photograph their latest collection and post it on his social media; not because the 17-year old was some type of photography genius, but because Beckham, Jr. knew how to push social media with almost 6 million followers on his own profiles. Why couldn’t Burberry hire an industry expert steeped in fashion photography? Undoubtedly, it’s because the older generation doesn’t know what people want to see on these platforms; it’s the youth that knows. When a company Burberry’s size has to rely on a 17-year-old to maintain their brand, or when a young girl is told to dress in an all-Gucci outfit with full makeup for their parent’s latest blog, it forces the child to grow up too fast and miss the social and physical developmental experiences they naturally need. Despite good intentions, many parents are behind the uneasy and potentially unhealthy lifestyle. Moms who are bloggers are dressing their children up to boast on social media that their daughter is in head to toe designer fashion. In the end, it’s the child that loses. Instead of running outside and learning the social ropes of the real world with real interaction and real exercise, toddlers to tweenies are more interested in keeping up with the Jones, only the Jones are only after more likes and followers than worried about pushing natural colors that could potentially lead to the idea of an actual childhood.
coco_pinkprincess & fashion_laerta
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