Here's the sitch: you see the outfit that Little Miss is wearing? The little-black-dress and flippy pleated plaid skirt?
Let's say that one parent luuuurves this dress and the other hates it. Both have their arguments. What do YOU think?
Help settle the fight. "Little Catholic Schoogirl" Missy: adorable tykette or fashion faux pas?
Ah, but the question is, does MISSY like it?
ReplyDeleteShe seems to: mo violent headshaking or tugging at the collar. But tht may just mean it's comfy, rather than a comment on What Not To Wear.
ReplyDeleteLittle miss is VERY biddable. So it can be hard to tell whether she likes something or not.
Here it's a case of one parent (I won't say which) wants to banish this dress (unless little girl LOVES it to death, which she doesn't, as far as we can tell) for personal taste reasons. The other doesn't, for similar reasons. Hence the appeal to neutral judges.
Adorable tykette. I don't get Catholic Schoolgirl out of it.
ReplyDeleteDude, "slide rule" was my dad's CB handle back in the day... Ah, family road trips with an engineer...
ReplyDeleteMy only comment about the dress is that it looks like a winter dress - not at all summery. Isn't there at least a hint of summer coming up there, yet?! The black velvet touches are not to may taste, but the plaid on its own is way cool.
PNH: It's the little pleated skirt. One of us claims that "it looks like a school uniform - ugh!"
ReplyDeleteAM - It is more of a fall/winter dress. Sunday was overcast and cool, not cold enough for a fleece or a jacket but too cold for a t-shirt or short onesie for a little girl from South China. Even after a Northwest winter, little miss is still a hot-weather girl. She loves to be warm and her little teeth chatter in even the slightest hint of cold. So the LBD was perfect for a cool day.
Our summer seems to be fickle. Saturday was so warm that we filled the pool (as you saw in the preceding post). But Sunday was so cool we never got in it!
Which way do you want us to answer? I think she'd do well in a highland dance concert here on the east coast, so take that for what it's worth....
ReplyDeletePleated skirts with or without the plaid are awesome and so is Missy.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I agree that pleats make the "little Catholic schoolgirl" fashion statement. Perhaps the plaid but in my day the plaids that Mary Katherine (my first crush) wore were a lot more muted in color and I think only had one or two pleats.
MV: I'm okay whatever y'all say. We're just trying to get an idea whose fashion sense offends the bulk of the western world.
ReplyDeleteI certainly agree about the highland dance thing - not a bad look for a girl who inherits the mantle of the great MacLeods and MacMillians (through her ather's side, BTW)!
mike: I, too, enjoy the Little Catholic Schoolgirl look. But not sure if it works for Little Miss.
Let me say that I appreciate ALL the comments, advice and ideas.
Most anything looks cute on a little girl, so long as it's not in the Britney mold.
ReplyDeleteBut I hew to simple trapeeze-style dresses for girls, and the velvet and tie may be a bit too fussy. Just the way I was raised. Little girls shouldn't learn to primp too much.
I didn't have to wear frocks like that Texas cult, mind--just simple stuff.
Lisa: One of the big objections to the LBD (from the objector of the two of us here at the Fire Direction shack) is all the frilly, tie-y, pleatyness of it. The other one thinks it's "cute n' girly" was the expression used, I believe.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, the one thing that Mssy herself seems to like most is the long tie - she uses the loop of the bow like a handle to twirl herself around.
BTW: extra credit no-prize points for the reader who can guess which parent thinks the LBD is the cutest EVAH and which one utterly loathes it.
ReplyDeleteYou hate, Mojo loves?
ReplyDeleteAM: As Arte Johnson used to say on laugh-in: verrrrrry interesting!
ReplyDeleteLet me wait and see if anyone else weighs in and then I'll tell.
Hey - TWO AND A WAKE-UP!!!! YEAH!!!
Well, seeing that Missy doesn't have an opinion I'll say that I don't think it's awful - but I do think it's a little Church Dress looking (like, the kind of dress my Methodist Grandma LOVED to put me in whenever she could steal me away from my heathen parents for a Sunday). It doesn't look super comfortable and I would constantly be wondering what a two year old was going to spill on it. It's an OCCASION dress. But it wouldn't create violent feelings in me one way or the other.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I put all sorts of crazy crap on my poor kid...
Not loving it for the reasons as AM - it's a winter dress. Also, it's a little fussy and a little Christmas-like (as in needs tights and black patent shoes). I'm giving a thumbs down and siding with...you?
ReplyDeleteChief,
ReplyDeleteI believe we both don't cotton to it for the same reasons. Kid's clothing should be functional and relatively foolproof. As one writer put it, this may be an "event dress."
My mother specifically forbade strings, frilly things, etc. I could wear ribbons in my hair, however. She did not want me to become one of "those" prissy girls.
Clothing should let you "do things" without impediment. I still carry that simple ethos today, and am quite comfortable.
If I wanted to play with strings I had, well, strings, yoyo's, and other playthings to dawdle about with. I was taught not to pull on my clothes or hair. "Flirty" girl behavior was discouraged. Sounds monastic, but it wasn't (I don't think.)
That is not to say as an adult that I cannot dress up when the occasion calls for it. It's just that usually, I'm happiest in unadorned things. The rationale of women who wear vests with appliques of cats and such simply escapes me.
I doubt I could make the house of YSL go 'round. Not a good consumer, I am.
Okay: it looks like the votes are in and...
ReplyDelete1. Thumbs down on the LBD. I think maia and lisa both pretty much peg it: it's "foofy" and too fussy what with the string tie, the little vest and the lacy things at the wrists. The black velvet doesn't help, either, inasmuch as it provides a perfect surface for toddlers to stick things to and to get stuck on. The plaid skirt does look good on Missy, but must bold clothes do.
Seems like the only people who like the LBD are mike and...
...me!
Yep. I'm the one with the bad taste in toddler clothes. I found this at the Goodwill in Lincoln City and fell in love with it. Mojo hates it like she hates the Greatest Hits of The Captain and Tennille.
So the Little Black Dress goes back to the Goodwill. Big thank yous to maia, project ni hao, atomic mama, mrs. vandertramp, debra sue, lisa and mike (in no particular order) for helping me accept that I'm never going to be the Hannah Andersen of Little Miss!
I do like the plaid skirt, though, and I have to say that baby girl does look adorable in the black-and-red goth girl colors. Maybe we need to think a sk8rgirl look for her. Whaddya think?
I missed debra sue in the above post - you nailed the probs with the LBD, too. Didn't want not to give props where they're due.
ReplyDeleteAnyway - thanks all - I enjoyed hearing your thoughts and you've saved the baby girl from another go-round with the dress.
Get on wit yo bad selfs, as my old first sergeant used to say.
It is the pleats that make the outfit and not the color.
ReplyDeleteBut I would have sworn that Mojo liked it since she was wearing black in one of the photos above with Missy on her lap.
But you withheld the give-away information that you bought it at Goodwill. That was the main reason that it soured the deal for Mrs Chief and not the color. Given that info tidbit we would have had the answer.
mike: I have to say that Domestic 6 is THE Goodwill maven. Our "how cheap can you be" story is that she REFUSED to pay for new kids' shoes until I lucked into two pair for $5 each at Target. She kept going back and back to Goodwill hoping for a pair that 1) wasn't totally clapped out and 2) would fit.
ReplyDeleteNo, it was what lisa, maia and debra sue picked up on: she just hated the "frillyness" of the velvet part.
I am the real offender when it comes to cutey girl clothes. My inamorata has much better taste - goes for matching colors and clean lines.
Of course, my job allows me to dress in t-shirts and Carharts, so I earn my fashion ignorance the easy way...
Chief,
ReplyDeleteNow I feel bad--I thought I was sucking up to you :) My mother may have been horribly misled in her thinking that men eschew frilly, primping girls. (They do all seem to get husbands.)
You get much credit for going to Goodwill, which is a very sensible move. The dress is cute--it's just not a play uniform, IMHO.
That you, a big guy in Carhartt's, can search for beauty in clothes for a girl is admirable. Again: the dress is definitely not in poor taste, merely gussied-up, and more apropos for a party. (Whew.)--I'd love to have man who even cares to look at women's/girl's clothing.
Lisa: I've never understood the whole "manly man" thing where it's supposed to be girly and sissy to know/care about how you XX-types look in your clothes. Men's fashions have been pretty boring since the 19th Century, but women still manage to put some excitement into the business.
ReplyDeletePlus, it's fun to see how different women choose to dress. Mojo, for example, is medium height but very curvy, so she tends to like very simple looks and styles that have very little fussiness - her bust just makes her look like a fluffball in anything frilly. I think that Missy will be the opposite - she will be able to carry off almost showgirl-level foofiness. But it's their choice - I do but advertise my favorites.
Again, thanks for all the comments. I'm off to Lincoln City again today and I will have to hit the Goodwill looking for more adorable Missy styles!
You're a neat guy, Chief! I see your breadth in your ability to discourse on and enjoy classic cinema, and more than just noir detective stories.
ReplyDeleteIt really does warm my heart to hear from military guys who are not afraid to be that + something more than hard guy. To me, that lack of fear in exploring all modalities of connection it what makes a real man (ditto, real woman.) The ladies in your life are quite fortunate, I think.
Happy hunting in Lincoln City.