Teeny Manolo

or Princess, as the case may be.

Now, it is rare indeed that you will find me flogging clothing for children that is specifically marketed as a “Black Tie Collection,” for rarer indeed than unicorn sightings at a Paris Hilton performance are the occasions on which children are properly invited to attend black tie functions (which of course begin in the evening) and naturally the use of “Black Tie” as a swanky euphemism for “expensive” is horribly infra dig if not actually nouveau riche.

But then, how is Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess Pavlos of Greece to know? Heiress, socialite, It Girl, designer and model Her Highness Marie-Chantal (formerly “Miller”) undoubtably totes her tykes to all manner of state dinners and debutante balls, and I’m sure she’s never met a nouveau in her life, especially since Warhol died before she reached puberty.

As I said, it goes against my stuffy, literal-minded grain to promote such a thing, particularly when the designer is all, like, “Oh, we just called the brand plain old Marie-Chantal” to be all down-homey while featuring a baby wearing a crown as her logo. Plain old Marie-Chantal indeed.

But.

But.

Would you look at these clothes? And, furtherto and forafter, would you look at the prices?

NAT
Lace Collar Shirt
Price: $102.00 Sale $30.60

NELL
Baby Girl Fancy Halter Dress
Price: $125.00 Sale $37.50

So you’d be getting a gorgeous little baby party outfit of heirloom quality for $68.10 instead of the completely-out-of-the-question $227.oo. That is what I’d call a frugal indulgence, and most definitely something to be considered when one simply has to commit an act of Salvation Armani.

For girls sizes 2-12:

God, I want that for myself! Yes, I confess it: I miss Laura Ashley!

NANETTE
Peal Style Cardigan
Price: $141.00 Sale $42.30

NEEMA
Raglan Blouse
Price: $134.00 Sale $40.20

NEW YORK
Reversible Dot Skirt
Price: $154.00 Sale $46.20

And the boys are not forgotten. They are just camouflaged as their grandfathers:

LANCE W07
Cashmere V-Neck Vest
Price: $141.00

NOAH
Boy “Grand-Pa” Shirt
Price: $122.00 Sale $36.60

NEWTON
Boy Dress Trouser
Price: $147.00 Sale $44.10

NORWOOD
Boys Blazer
Price: $218.00 Sale $65.40

One notes, one does, that Plain Old Marie-Chantal knows that good cashmere never needs to get marked down to sell.

She’s such a practical girl at heart.

This week’s fashion spotlight is shining on a designer who already has quite the few spotlights shining her way already.  I’m talking about Gwen Stefani and her line of clothing, Harajuku Lovers.

Harajuku is actually a train station in Japan.  Due to the proximity of parks as well as upscale shops on Takeshita-dori,  the station became a popular hangout for Japanese youth.  And we all know that when a bunch of young people congregate, trouble creativity is bound to happen.  The Harajuku station bathrooms became the place for teens to change from their normal clothes into the fun, spirited, and outrageous fashions that the area is now famous for.

Harajuku fashion is seen as a form of dress-up, not necessarily a lifestyle.  It is all about freedom of expression and of course, the age-old rebellion thing that teens have a well-deserved reputation for displaying. The picture below is an example of this.

Source

To be honest, I was fully prepared to hate Gwen Stefani’s line for girls.  I kind of wanted to look at it and say, “Woman, stick to the music!”   I wasn’t fond of the entourage of “Harajuku girls” that Gwen surrounded hersef with for a time. But, suprisingly, I think the clothes are cute, and unlike many clothing lines for young girls nowadays, totally age-appropriate.  The clothes reflect the colorful, cartoonish style popular with Japanese youth.  They are casual and comfortable, with an emphasis on shirts and hoodies.

Source

As I was doing my usual stumbling around on the internet, I came across a site that I am very happy to promote on Teeny Manolo.

It is called Global Mamas. 

On the main page, they explain their mission:

By purchasing Global Mamas products, you are offering sustainable livelihoods to women and their families living in poverty.

All proceeds go directly to the women and to nonprofit programs that assist them with business development.

Global Mamas is a Fair Trade Manufacturer, which means they met stringent criteria set forth by the Fair Trade Federation, which is based in the United States.

I really like the idea behind this enterprise, and I feel that we here in the US are not offered as many Fair Trade products as other countries, such as Canada.   Next to the description of each piece of clothing, there is a link to both the batiker and the seamstress who made it.  Think of it as being a bit like your own personal version of Kiva, but getting cute clothes in the bargain as well.

While you may not win a Nobel Prize for Economics, it just might make you feel as good as if you had.

Captions in the comments, carrots in the pockets.

Image stolen from TheRidingCompany, who’ll definitely get some of my many blogging millions when I book a horseback vacation.

And is anyone else wondering why she’s wearing a dress in the barn? Zeez Euros, zay air zo ztyleesh!

Parents who enter their children into beauty pageants have always been a source of confusion for me.  Are they trying to live vicariously through their offspring? Do they ever stop to think that the emphasis they are placing on looks (despite the vocal protests that it is really all about learning to speak in public as well as their child’s intense love of dance) will distort their self image?  That their child may not remember the valuable lessons of friendly competition, but simply that life is a big contest and the one who looks best wins?

I’m not sure what motivates them to participate in such displays, but it certainly isn’t the chance to wear really pretty dresses.  Some of these numbers would be rejected by the Ice Capades for being too flashy.  That and the fact that the skaters would never make it more than an inch off the ice due to the weight of the assorted bling.

Apparently the higher you get in competition level, the higher the level of bedazzlement required.  I wonder if they hand out sunglasses to the audience at the nationals? Or maybe the whole point is to blind the judges?

I know, I have more questions than answers.

If there was ever a time to say “Ayyyy!” this is it!  I’m sure the Manolo will forgive me for stealing his signature cry of disapproval.

For Christmas, my mother bought my son a shirt.  And I liked it. If you knew the type of clothing that my mom normally buys for the Munchkin, you would topple over in shock, I assure you. I know I did.  My mom is great, but her fashion sense and mine? Let’s just say we both tend to do a lot of private eye-rolling.

After I had been revived with smelling salts, I managed to gasp out, “Wh-where did you get that? How much was it?”

When I found out she had bought it for eight dollars, out the smelling salts came.  Again.

And whom did I have to thank for such a nirvana of a shirt for such a great price?

Why, H&M, of course.  The house of fast fashion and famous celebrity collections also offers clothing for children from ages 0-14 years.  Yeeaaaahhh baby, I was so there.

Luckily, I have a store near me that carries the children’s lines, which not all do.  I went in, curious as to what I would find, as I think everyone knows by now that I find boy’s fashion Boring with a capital B.   And, because I love you all, I also looked at the girl’s clothing, even though I never do because I just get jealous. 

I saw clothing that was, in a word, awesome.  It was of high quality, had color combinations not normally found in bargain clothing  (hello, chocolate brown and baby blue for the boys!) and best of all, did I mention it was pretty cheap?  Two t-shirts could be had as a color coordinated pair for $9.90.   Pants ran around $14.00.  They also had turtlenecks, which I had been hard-pressed to find this winter, for some reason. Lots and lots of graphics as well. 

Alas, in my corner of the world we are already beginning to warm up, not that we were ever really cold to begin with, so turtlenecks just seemed a bit much.  None of the spring line was in yet, so I was unable to purchase anything because the Munchkin’s winter wardrobe is already covered.  That was unfortunate, because I really wanted to buy something.  Never had I been so upset at being so well organized. I am practically salivating for them to get their spring line into the store.

The clothing for girls was equally fab, and the infant clothing was even better.  I cannot recommend this store highly enough. To find out if you have an H&M near you that carries children’s clothing and accessories, here is a link to their store locator in the US. 

There is no online shopping for residents of North America, but if you’ve got a close friend in Sweden who’s willing to get the clothes to you, it might almost be worth it.

One of my favorite clothing lines for children is Small Paul from designer Paul Frank.

Paul started out in his garage in Orange County, California and came up with his now-iconic Julius the Monkey graphic.  He began with a wallet with Julius’ face emblazoned on it, and interest grew after a friend requested that Paul make him the same wallet.

The Small Paul line features bright, irreverent, and funky graphics that kids love to wear.  I tend not to like graphics, but I make an exception for Small Paul. The clothes definitely have a Southern California, beachy feel. My son’s bright orange Julius tee is one of his favorites and I have seen a  smile creep onto people’s faces when they see him in it.  Cute monkey, cute kid, who could resist?

But seriously, Small Paul has come out with different signature characters for boys and girls, including the popular Skurvy Skull.   Julius can take on many different looks as well on different pieces, sometimes sporting a beehive or X-ray specs, or whatever else suits the designer’s fancy. As with most designer clothing, the prices can be a bit spendy, but the tees can be reasonable, and even more so on sale.

This is a small sample of the current line:

The original story happened quite a while ago, but it was around Christmas and I just didn’t feel right posting about questionable teen undies at Christmas.  I don’t know, call me old-fashioned.  But hey, Christmas is over and now everything is fair game!

The above panties were found in the teen section of a Wal-Mart in South Carolina, as reported originally by Feministing.  Apparently, what the article did not report was that on the back, the panties stated, “When You Have Santa.”

Yeah, like that makes it so much better.

After some grass-roots internet outrage, Wal-Mart pulled the panties.  Fine, kudos to them.  Although really, how long are three dollar panties going to last anyway?  Most of the ones that sold are probably already falling apart.  Maybe they thought that the panties were fine because only the girl would know what her panties said.  At least, I certainly hope she would remain the only one.

So are these panties just harmless fun?  Does the saying on the back make it acceptable? 

And perhaps this is the biggest question, when did underwear become reading material?

There are stores that claim to have a sale, and then you go and find the sale price is a mere five bucks off the normal price. Not so Old Navy sales! They tend to have some fairly good price slashing, and I honestly don’t consider it a real sale unless it’s at least 40% off.

Colored, embellished jeans for girls half off! And there are more colors available.

For girls, Metallic Pintuck Tops, also half off. Too cute for spring!

For baby girls in sizes 0-12 months, a lovely keyhole trapeze sweater with pointelle detailing for a little over eight dollars!

For boys, slim pickings as always. Here is the best of what’s left that still has some size availability.

Hi-tech quick-dry soccer tee for a little over seven dollars.

Boys side-striped athletic pants, at the right price of $7.25. Great size availability, also in grey.

Perhaps they are not the cutest pajamas ever, but they are 100% cotton and have a fabulous size availability from 3 months up to 5T. And hey, high fashion is tough to get for five bucks.

Happy shopping, if you’ve got any money left over from the holidays, that is!

It doesn’t actually have anything to do with country music, I just needed the beats; fans of the early Baroque period should feel equally comfortable reading this post! We are all non-partisan-and-equal-opportunity-like around these parts, as long as you don’t expect me to actually LISTEN to Garth Brooks.

You wouldn’t make me, would you?

I thought not. And so to today’s per diem topic du jour for today.

Ears.

Specifically:

Ears on hats.

Now, if you follow as many celebrity blogs as I do (and why would you? I get paid for it) you’ll probably know that this is just about the most famous hat in the world right now, and the Garner-Afflecks could probably comfortably retire on their earnings, should they open up a website devoted to selling said chapeaux.

Now, we luv us some hats, we do around these parts. Particularly the parts that are apt to get cold in the wintertime or hot and burnt in the summertime, and particularly on the wee ones. It is our advice (we use, you understand, the royal “we”, as we understand the royal family aren’t using it right now and we want it to feel valued) it is, we say, our advice, to accustom the little ones to the wearing of hats as early and as often as possible.

There are several reasons for this.

One: so their little heads don’t sunburn/freeze, depending on whether you’re in Belize or Boston, Aruba or Aspen.

Two: because sunscreen makes a mess of baby hair and hoods invariably fall down and cover their eyes and they think someone’s blindfolded them for some malicious kidnapping purpose or something and, naturally, begin squalling.

Three: they learn how to untie those strings, velcro and buttons sooner than you’d think and then you’ll have a fight on your hands, if they’re not already accustomed to wearing the darn things.

Four: Ears. Ears on hats. Check it out:

on big people:

Bad idea.

However;

on little people:

Try it for yourself: