CHILDREN
Fashion and beauty products aimed at children seem to more to do with form and function, although the temptation is certainly their for vicarious parents to feed their own egos through the appearance of their children.One inescapable facet of children's fashion is the price. Very often, children's garments are priced at jaw-dropping levels, especially considering the brief period of time they will be worn by rapidly growing children. This seems to give rise to a veritable underground of hand-me-downs circulating among parents, primarily women, who resent or simply cannot afford to pay off the rack prices.
There are many lines of clothing, like Garanimals, that seek to involve children in the selection of their own outfits. As one source explains, 'Each item of clothing features a hang-tag depicting one of several anthropomorphic animal characters, also called Garanimals. The philosophy behind Garanimals is that by making it easy for children to choose coordinated outfits by themselves (by choosing pieces with matching hang-tags), children gain self-confidence.' A cynic might note that this may also represent a form of indoctrination, grooming children towards a pliant acceptance of the underlying consumerist premise of the fashion industry.
Another interesting aspect of children's beauty products is the phenomenon of children's beauty pageants. Children barely old enough to walk are primped and preened, adorned with lipstick, eyeshadow, the full spectrum of make-up products and “asked” to compete against other children to determine who is the most beautiful. Beauty and fashion companies must rub their hands in glee over this questionable pursuit.