Strollerderby : clothes for kids

As the Cookie Crumbles: Poverty is for the Rich

Madeline Holler — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:02:00 GMT

That Cookie magazine art director has got a real sense of humor. And a finger on the pulse of a bankrupting nation!

The November issue of the parenting magazine features a pictorial documentation of poverty's fashion and accessories, but with a price-tag that, nudge nudge, reassures you're doing juuuuust fine. You don't need to scrimp, save or beg to get by (not in a $1,395 Burberry dress and $995 matching cardigan!).

Using the 70s TV classic "The Waltons" for inspiration, the mag's 10 pages of "Country Classic" fashion are described as "crisp, classic, unadorned clothes that look like they're from another era --".

Yes. That era was called the Great Depression.

Of course, today's country folk are more likely to be wearing Wal-mart leggings. And this new depression is happening to Old Navy bedecked exurbanites. But don't be so literal. Cookie -- and apparently designers -- don't want fashionable families to miss out on all the fun of living in leaner times, saying Grace to the Lord for simple meals and taking turns telling one-another "good night."

A taste of the olden days, through the lens of Cookie: The country family wears simple dresses, wool britches, smock tops and really fancy boots. Check out the boy in Diesel overalls ($149) and girls in Mischen shirtdresses ($435). Don't even think of wearing those to the outhouse! There's also an $85 houndstooth hat from Cole Haan and a $490 D&G classic coat, against which some dunderhead country boy is holding a rooster. If I so much as see a speck of chicken shit on that thing, so help me ...

You know, just because the neighbor's home is in foreclosure and you keep reading about how Christmas is going to be tight this year, "Country Classic" makes it clear that the nation's recession/depression isn't just for the financially over-extended. Even you, who wouldn't flinch at sending your girl to school in a $223 La Garconne vest and a $340 Michael Stars mini (in the top pic), can look the part of dirty-eating, depression-era mountain people.

Poverty sure is cute.

(Oeuf Isa dress, $82 and Ivory slip, $52 -- that's a $134 ... so much as snag that slip on the stump and Pa's getting the strap!)

As the Cookie Crumbles: The Disheveled Family Rescue Plan

As the Cookie Crumbles: A Taste of the High-Calorie Mag

Babble Best: Piggy Banks

Babble: The Economy Issue

Financial Advice From Kids

Photos: Cookie magazine

As the Cookie Crumbles: The Disheveled Family Rescue Plan

Madeline Holler — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:00:00 GMT

I guess what's missing when the husband and I take our girls out is a "cohesive family look." What with the heat sensitive husband always in shorts, the cold sensitive older child in a hooded jacket, the color insensitive younger one in mix-and-not-match colors and patterns and me, mostly in jeans and a kicky top (usually clean). We've never thought of ourselves in that Von Trapp "we'll look good on stage" way. Once, we all accidentally wore green shirts to a picnic and felt a little on the silly (and/or Amish) side.

As usual when it comes to style, though, I was mistaken. The goal is to dress alike, especially mothers and daughters.

Thank goodness for the October issue of Cookie magazine. They tackle the challenges of raising a child as an accessory and give you plenty of ideas for ensuring your kids never come up with their own ideas on what to wear.

Let's start with this month's big event: Halloween. To get you out of your "lame" witch hat habit, you are encouraged to coordinate family costumes. So, if your son is dressing as Sherlock Holmes this year (what? Yours isn't begging you for a houndstooth cloak?), you need to go as Dr. Watson. Orange cat outfit for the little one? Focus all attention back to you and shimmy into a black shift and pearls. You're a dead ringer for Holly Golightly!

The monkey kid (looking less than thrilled with his round ears and peeled banana -- "but mooooommmmm! I want to be a Transformer!" ... "Shut up and get cohesive, son!") will be a perfect sidekick to your Man with the Yellow Hat idea. There's also Tinkerbell/Captain Hook and Bucket of Chicken/Colonel Sanders pairings. Cute, sure -- and you're the star of this show!

Wait, whose Halloween is it?

Next in mini-me stylings is the "Separated a Birth" section, this time with winter coats. Gorgeous wool coats for kids should match your own gorgeous wool coat (remember: cohesion). My favorite pairing? Mom's taupe tie-neck coat from H&M ($129) and a kid's Dominique Rouzier "recital coat" for $450 (oh, she'll wear it all the time!). That's the sign of a truly cohesive family unit -- a mother who shops discount so her daughter can wear couture.

So many lessons.

Oh, the shambles that is my uncoordinated, uncloaked family unit!

As the Cookie Crumbles: A Taste of the High Calorie Magazine

Photo: Cookiemag.com

As the Cookie Crumbles: A Taste of the High-Calorie Mag

Madeline Holler — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:27:00 GMT

Cookie magazine has the same trappings of a women's fashion magazine with a few notable differences: the beautiful models/actresses on its front cover don't pout (they smile and hold babies), the tips are about efficient parenting instead of efficient orgasming, sex stories are for marrieds not singles, and the under $20 lists are for kiddie birthday presents instead of make-up.

What you still get from this woman's glossy (aimed at mothers) is a punctured self-esteem, a sinking suspicion the rest of the world (and their kids) are happier than you (and your kids), and that you're the one frump in the world who thinks of clothes in terms of practicality.

Starting with September, the first issue of our re-upped subscription and the Back-to-School one to boot, we're going to nibble at some empty Cookie calories in our monthly feature "As the Cookie Crumbles."

Grab a glass of milk, we'll dig right in:

This month, we like the throwback birthday party games. And some of the lunch packing ideas too. (Sidenote: no matter how easy the pasta omelet may be, eggs smell, uh, suspicious when unpacked from a sealed lunch box. Just don't.) Also, we'll take book recommendations anywhere, anytime and Cookie has many.

But the clothes. Yes, those clothes! So beautiful! So impish! So, so, so impractical!

The timeless classics featured in the mag's first-day-of-Kindergarten piece, "They Might Be Giants," are endearing and cute for sure. But more honest to label them "back-to-the-portrait-studio," or "back-to-Maddox's-exclusive-birthday-party" than something they might actually wear around paint, clay and unsupervised scissor use. The fabrics and prices and styles would make you dress your kid and keep her at home, lest one Little Marc Jacobs outfitted beauty snag her $150 bramble-tweed top on a sticks-and-wire model of The Giving Tree.

And, yes, we're all about gender-bending and spectrums and just letting boys be boys (or boys be girls ... whatever feels right!) ... but we're confused by the Happy Man blouse ($77) on the androgenous kid model (p. 150, pictured at left). S/he's cute, don't get me wrong. And the red tights are OK, but uncomfortable. Still, question: this isn't a boy's outfit, is it? Because unless Henry is getting homeschooled, he's going to get his feelings hurt -- not to mention mud all over his brilliant red leather booties ($250). Now whose self-esteem has been punctured?

You know, if you've ever seen a school's lost-and-found box (crate? room?), you know whenever you kiss your babe good-bye, you're also saying a possible farewell to jackets, vests, overshirts and, yes, $245 Burberry cardigans. But that's the practical frump talking.

Photos: Cookiemag.com

Delicious Droolicious. Fire Engines are a Girl's Best Friend

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:06:00 GMT

Posted by SwirlSyndicate1

My daughter lives for all things firefighter — hats, toy firetrucks and "Fire Chief" stickers clutter our living room and she whoops and waves whenever an engine screams past. Alas, firefighters have been lumped into "boy" territory in the stores. Enter this little play dress by brilliant kid clothiers Plastisock. It's festooned with ladder trucks, right alongside things my increasingly "girly" girl can squarely get behind, such as hearts and ladybugs.

$36, Nordic Kids

More Drooly goodness today:

Attack of the pregnant zombie models!
Cardholders so you can kick some toddler butt at "Go Fish"
Kute Karts for Your Kids' Krap

Crafty: Turn Daddy's Ugmo Shirts Into Your Daughter's Adorable Dresses

Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass) — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:08:00 GMT

One of the beauties of cleaning out closets and dresser drawers is the opportunity to get rid of the clothes you wore to your first job in the awkward early days of business casual. It is also -- and let's be completely honest here -- a great opportunity to persuade your husband/partner/adorable love of your life to get rid of those shirts you cannot possibly look at one more day of your blessed life together. Now, as if this wasn't fabulous enough, add in the beauty of re-purposing those old Hawaiian and print button-up shirts into something sweet for your baby girl. Ta-da! Like a crafty miracle, you can make dad's old shirts into daughter's new dress.

The tutorial on Craftster is posted by Chey and it seems pretty straight-forward, even to a clumsy sewer like me. I love that you'll only need a sewing machine and scissors ant that Chey's included plenty of pictures so you can see what all your cutting and reconstructing will get you and your dress-happy daughter. Now if we can only find a recon project for all those pitted out fraternity t-shirts, I will be an even happier organizing and crafting mama.

[via DIYLife]