How the Mighty Have Fallen

One time Abercrombie and Fitch was a place America's royalty and plenty of other royalty shopped. This link is from the Wikipedia page, however a google gives plenty of info backing this up and there is even a book out there where the author sounds off about why they hate A & F and how the mighty have indeed fallen. And they have. Fast forward to 2011 and their attempt to convince girls as young as 7 years old (funny that, my eldest is 7) that they NEED padded bikini tops. Um, yeah over my dead body. It got a not so surprising negative reaction and shame on me for blogging about something that's been all over the interwebs today and that Abercrombie has now decided to market only to girls 12 years old and over. But it bears repeating, girls NEED to stay girls. Period and no matter how often it is repeated.

Consider these Land's End swimsuits. Feminine and cute. AND age appropriate.

If you page through the kids catalog, you do indeed come across 2 piece styles vs the tankini style above but they are age appropriate AND cute and feminine. This is a company that I love, love, love for providing stylish options for men, women and kids but also providing the tried and true classics that stand the test of time and aren't affected by trends. If you are looking for cute dresses and other summer clothes for girls, the LE "Knit Kit" is another sure bet. Cute feminine clothes, dresses for twirling with leggings or shorts underneath, and the prices are right. Garnanimals for this generation of girls.

And our girls will need to grow up soon enough anyway, right? I was heartened my eldest wanted some leggings to wear under one of her girly dresses the other day and she looked cute as could be when she put the look together. Let's hear it for cute and age appropriate and girls having the time to be girls.

Nordies Rack Lunchtime Run

There's a Nordie's Rack 5 minutes from work so I regularly troll there for all things Lilly for the Elder and Younger Preppycrat Princesses. I saw no Lilly there this time and was honestly saddened to see a particular item in the racks; a pink pair of velour pants size 4t with the word 'Roxy' written across the right bum cheek. The velour look and words written across the bum are awful enough when you're an adult but the messages this sends when worn by little girls is downright scary wrong - Bratz dolls are frightening enough, actual little girls dressed like Bratz dolls unthinkable.

But here's the good news - I saw some cute Hartstrings separates for kids including this:

Price was $14.99 at my Nordies Rack. It has Elder Princess Preppycrat written all over it but alas, was not in the size I expect her to be in come next Summer.

They also had this cardi in navy blue:

Which looked a lot nicer than this green version - I just can't find the navy version on the net, drat!- but it was also not in Elder's size. I did, however want to pass this along to any of y'all who have preppy kids and want to help Santa bring them clothes for the holidays via our friends at Nordie's Rack.