FASHIONS Provocative copycat styles touted for toddlers

Parents may fill out comment cards to request more sedate fashions.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
SEATTLE -- Parents out shopping for summer clothes with their elementary-school-age daughters can expect short shorts, skimpy tank tops and platform sandals. And for back-to-school, brace for everything from punk princess studded cuff bracelets to cropped hoodies to fitted one-shoulder tops, courtesy of a "Flashdance" flashback.
Parents happy to see the belly-baring Britney Spears drift toward "where-is-she-now?" status won't be reassured by those taking her place: Jennifer Lopez, Kelly Osbourne and the stars of "Charlie's Angels."
Shannon Andrews, mother of Rachael, 8, and Jessica, 4, has just about given up shopping in local malls out of disgust and frustration with hanger after hanger of styles she deems too provocative and sophisticated for little girls.
In a recent shopping trip for summer clothes, Andrews hit numerous stores and left with only some socks and sweat pants -- purchased from the boys' department, the only place she could find sweats that didn't sit low on the hips. (Rachael's complaint: They don't come in pink.) Andrews didn't see any shorts that she thought would pass the longer-than-the-fingertips dress code at Rachael's school.
"There's no reason for a little 6-year-old to have her rump hanging out of her shorts," fumed Andrews, who started an e-mail campaign to friends and family urging them to call stores and fill out comment cards to request more sedate fashions. "Let's take back our little girls. The only way to stop this is for us as parents to say we're not going to let the media tell us how to dress our kids."
Losing battle
Andrews knows she's fighting popular culture: McDonald's handed out Bratz dolls decked out in miniskirts and boots as Happy Meal toys this spring and teen magazine Twist urged its readers to "get a little sexy" by pairing a "flirty camisole" from the lingerie section with a "cute mini."
"This generation is much more sophisticated than in decades past," said Suzin Boddiford, fashion editor for Girl's Life magazine, which is targeted at girls ages 10 to 15. "The young girls want to look like their favorite models, singers and movie stars and therefore are borrowing ideas from what they see on MTV videos and in movies and magazines."
Jennifer Lopez's clothing line for young girls, which features low-riding jeans with thick belts and denim tank tops, is "blowing off the shelves," Boddiford said.
"Low-rise jeans and short-shorts have become a wardrobe basic, so baring a slice of skin is not as big a deal as it used to be," Boddiford said in an e-mail.
Has veto power
"If our floor looked like juniors, the girls would love it," said Emily Rosenbach, girls sportswear and collections buyer for The Bon Marche. But unlike teens, who wield their own spending cash, moms still hold the credit card and veto power with younger girls.
Styles that are more "fashion-forward" sell well in Seattle, but Rosenbach has to contend with customers who complain about risqu & eacute; clothes in the girls' department for ages 6 to 12. "Some moms think they're cute, but it's a family store and we have to cater to all sorts of people," Rosenbach said. "We try to have what girls want to wear but moms will still buy."
Moms see a brand and style on a mannequin in the junior department and assume it's the same thing when they find something with the same designer name in the girls' section, Rosenbach said. But while the girls' sizes may strive for the same look, they're cut more conservatively.
A cut above the rest
For example, a supposedly low-rise pair of pants in a girls' size won't be cut so low as to expose a pantyline from behind when the girl sits, she said. The girls' styles are "a toned-down version of what's on the junior floor," Rosenbach said.
The girls' department trends tend to be about six months behind juniors', Rosenbach said. "Junior trends are just so fast," she said. "We do catch a few of their things. But they have to be something moms will go for."
"Why can't we let little girls be little girls?" Andrews says. "We need to slow (growing up) down, not speed it up. If you dress a little girl in suggestive clothing, she's going to play the part."