Befitting

My oldest gal needed a special dress for the Christmas play. I had waited way too long to begin looking. The dress needed to be a flashy number to properly attire the diva-like character that Meg was set to portray. As I looked and looked and as the play's director looked and looked, a problem surfaced. It was a problem that has been presenting itself frequently as my family and I shop for clothes befitting young ladies.

Befitting clothes--ha!

Befitting clothes--good luck with THAT!

Befitting--I must be dreaming!

My Man and I spent a bit of time at the mall on our own the other day seeking this flashy dress for our gal.
It. Was. Depressing.

We sought flashy and fun and colorful, we found fleshy and revealing and suggestive. After a long search, we gave up and returned home sequin-less with no flash and no dress and with little hope in the future of the whole befitting concept!

What gives?

Who is buying these clothes for their little girls? How are there entire stores full of clothing that barely covers a human body turning a profit? It must be because they are spending so little money on actual fabric. I have purchased potatoes in more covering material than in what clothing marketers feel I should dress my daughters.

Again I pondered the target audience for this line of clothing as we went from store to store until, while moving hangers from right to left and right to left in yet another store, I heard a female voice say to a young teenaged girl, "Oh yeah. That's HOT! THAT's the one you're getting!"

Hmmmmmmm, thought I, must be her hip-trendy aunt taking her shopping, surely her mom is coming around the corner in a minute with a bag full of common sense in hand to step in and fix the situation. 

The next word I heard broke my heart.

"Mooooommmmmmmm," she said, exasperated and rolling her eyes, she took the swatch dress and headed into the fitting room. I continued my search for something with both snazz and material. The young girl came out of the fitting room and with her back to me, faced her mom AND a man whom I assumed was her father. The mom flitted and fussed over there almost-dressed daughter and the dad remained SILENT.

When we left the store, my girls' dad was not silent, saying something along the lines of, "In a few years that mom is going to wonder what when wrong and when it happened..." I had been thinking similar thoughts, completely flabbergasted at what we'd just witnessed.

My next thought was that perhaps we might find, somewhere on this planet, a flannel turtleneck covered with sequins with a matching prairie skirt? Or even something like these...

Then I began to wonder what kind of clothing options Kate and Molly will be faced with as they stand on the threshold of their teenage years? The optimist in me hopes for a trend that swings back in the direction of more material and less flesh. The realist in me thinks that perhaps Kate has the right plan...

 I think we can put this in the category "If you want something done right..."