Relationship

Girls and their love of dressing in mommy’s old clothes

Little girls want to be princesses. It is something that is born in them. They love to dress up, and the dressier the better. From the age of three or even two, if you give them a fancy hat or boa, they will parade with them feeling glamorous. But if you want to give them the best clothing accessories, buy them rhinestone tiaras and chokers.

The easiest way to dress a girl as a princess is to simply buy her a Disney costume. Disney has an entire stable of princesses, from Snow White to Jasmine. The best advantage of these costumes is that they are child size, while common costume clothing is adult size. Of course, the other side of that coin is that the child can leave the costume before it is too small when dressing up. In my opinion, another downside is that Disney costumes get commercialized and trap kids in the rat race of buying things because sellers tell us that the products are what we can’t live without. I am more in favor of “found” costumes for many reasons. The main reason is that more creativity and imagination is required when wearing Mom’s sparkly party jacket than when the store bought costume has a picture of the character on the front.

Unfortunately, accumulating a collection of costume clothing was much easier when grandmothers were girls than it is today. In the 1950s, today’s great-grandmothers wore fluffy, ruffled petticoats of can-can under their dresses to highlight their full skirts. Girls in the fifties could wear one of these, put on a statement necklace, add a big bag, and be the Princess of Glamor or Agatha Mucha Moulah. In those days, moms wore dresses much more often than moms today. Back then, they always wore dresses to church and office and even sometimes to go shopping. Today’s moms wear a dress or skirt much less often. And what kid wants a pair of old jeans to dress up?

My kids’ favorite item for dress-up is an old faux Persian lamb cape worn by great-grandmother in the 1930s. This faux Persian lamb is a furry black fabric rolled up with a slight sheen. Over the many years and generations of children who played with it, it has been everything from a cape to a skirt to a hat. And it is still almost as beautiful as the day it was first worn to a party in an elegant dress over 70 years ago.

Today’s best costumes are probably stylish jackets that have outlived their usefulness as party wear. As jackets, they will most likely not be so long that the girls wearing them will trip over them. You probably also have an old-fashioned necklace to add to the costume. Then spend a few bucks on a classy tiara and inexpensive evening bag (or donate one of your own), and your kids can be the most beautiful princesses ever.

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