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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To Feel Absolutely IRATE At The Lack Of Non-Pink Girls Clothes

223 replies

TooTiredToThinkOfAUsername · 03/03/2015 12:35

Argh!!!!!

I felt fairly annoyed with gender specific clothes for DS. Now I have DD it makes me want to scream. She's not a fucking princess. She's hopefully going to be a strong independent woman.

Any tips for stores selling non pink non crap girls clothes would be MOST welcome :)

OP posts:
TooTiredToThinkOfAUsername · 03/03/2015 13:50

She does wear boys clothes and have boy sleeping bags and bibs.

I guess I'd just like to find some nice bright but gender neutral clothes.

I have also bought "girl" clothes for DS if they seemed good.

I just wanted new sleep suits for her today as we have none from DS in her size (6-9 mths). I only went to m&s because it's easy with parking and more than one store isn't funny with 2 under 2. Every set of girls sleep suits had some pink in. I bought a couple of boys sets. But as someone else has pointed out they are quite sludgy in colour. Also frustrating!

As a lot of you have pointed out pink doesn't necessarily preclude her being a strong independent woman. But I am quite alarmed by the princessification

OP posts:
oldcraftyhen · 03/03/2015 13:51

I have a boy and a girl.

I find buying boys clothes loads harder TBH.

Girls have more choice, and there's a variety of colours and styles.

Boys clothes are DIRE. All blue/beige/brown/grey. Lots of demin/combat type trousers, shirts, waistcoats, hoodies. My DS is 14 months old he doesn't need to dress like a MAN.

Even H&M baby range is like this now, it was definitely better when DD was a baby.

John Lewis is ok but more expensive. I like some stuff in mothercare, the little bird range is nice and colourful.

TooTiredToThinkOfAUsername · 03/03/2015 13:51

whoops!

Of young girls. Anyone else read Cinderella Ate My Daughter?

And I dare say she'll have a pink phase...

But thanks for all the shop suggestions everyone. LOADS of great ideas!!!

OP posts:
VirginiaTonic · 03/03/2015 13:52

I really think it is rubbish to say boys clothes come in a wider range of colours than girls. I see far more range in colours for girls than boys, after all, you don't see many boys clothes in lilac, baby pink, fuschia, magenta, lemon yellow, coral, jade green, turqoise, salmon, mustard, add to that the range of prints available on girls clothes and the choices are vast. Traditional colours for boys such as kahki, navy and red etc are also widely used for girls clothes too, widening the choice further.

Storm15 · 03/03/2015 13:52

I like blue. I have three daughters and mostly they wear blue. I don't have a problem tracking it down. Gap do all sorts of denim, blouses, cardigans in lovely shades of blue, white, cream, grey....

I also buy a lot from American Apparel - they do most of their styles in loads of different colours.

I did a big Zara shop for the kids the other day too - nothing pink in my bag.

SamanthaAndSamaris · 03/03/2015 13:52

Gottobe I will have a quick look in H&M this afternoon!

VirginiaTonic · 03/03/2015 13:53

YANBU unreasonable about the princess thing though!

Cotherstone · 03/03/2015 13:55

If I was just randomly browsing for nice clothes, I'd be able to find loads of stuff I liked... But usually when I am shopping for the DC, I need something very specific to replace something that's been grown out of or is full of holes - a hooded top, a multipack of tights, a waterproof jacket, a new pair of wellies - and I often find I struggle to find something.

Actually, I know what you mean there. There are certain items, like wellies and coats, that I've had to buy lately that have been harder to find in more unisex/neutral colours. Ski jackets were generally blue or pink, wellies were either dinosaurs or pink bunnies.

Now I'd happily put DD in green dinosaur wellies (and she currently has a blue tractor coat) but she is starting to get her own tastes and is erring towards traditionally feminine colours. So when we were in the shop for wellies the other day and she saw green and pink ones, she went for pink and said that the green ones were for boys even though she was wearing her boys coat at the time!.

I think it was the contrast of the only two available colours, ones that she is defining as "girls" and "boys" (which is fascinating in itself because I suspect she is picking that up more from her friends and from telly than she is from home, where most things we buy her are bright primary colours as I like them) that made her go for the "girls" colour. But if there had been five styles of wellies, red, blue, green, yellow, pink, she might have chosen a different colour.

So for me its not simply a matter of "pink for girls, blue for boys" that can be seen as a problem in clothing, more than there is often such a marked difference in styles, colours and logos and very little neutral, unisex clothing.

pbwer · 03/03/2015 13:57

vertbaudet

MaryWestmacott · 03/03/2015 14:00

I'm really surprised OP - 2-3 years ago, it seemed to be a lot bigger issue, but the last couple of ranges I've seen in most stores have been a lot more colour balanced. It's never been easier to have pink as just one in a large range of colours your DD wears, rather than the sole colour your DD wears.

That said, if you have an older DS, why are you buying new sleepsuits not just putting your DD in your older DC's hand-me-down sleepsuits?!! Most of DS's and therefore now DD's sleepsuits were plain white, you can normally get those in mothercare and the supermarkets.

RoseTheHat · 03/03/2015 14:05

I never know what the OP is on about when these threads come up. I have never had this problem.
Yes, there's frilly pink (and some shops worse than others for this) but just have a rummage through and you will find loads of other colours - navy for example seems to be very in for little girls at the moment, there's tons of it around!

TooTiredToThinkOfAUsername · 03/03/2015 14:07

It's just for this size Mary - all DS's sleep suits at thus size shrank so I took them back and got the next size. So we had no 6-9 mth sleep suits...

OP posts:
MaryWestmacott · 03/03/2015 14:08

one more thing though OP, be careful with your "pink is princessy and a rubbish girlie colour" thing, particularly if you have an older DS around. It's just a colour, but a colour through toys and the media that is clearly linked with girls. It's not a big step from "pink is for girls and pink is rubbish" to "girl things are rubbish" and creating a very anti-"girl things" feeling in your DS. It's fine to not want your DD to be a princess, but at the expense of your DS learning a whole load of negative gender sterotyping.

Pink is just a colour. But it's also a colour thats very strongly associated with girls. It should be you are teaching your children that things associated with girls have value as well as things associated with boys.

TooTiredToThinkOfAUsername · 03/03/2015 14:09

I agree there are actually loads of other non pink clothes. Once I calm down. But they're in the more expensive individual item ranges. Rather than the multi pack ranges.

OP posts:
TooTiredToThinkOfAUsername · 03/03/2015 14:10

Oh crikey Mary I hadn't thought of that.. That IS a really good point. Thank you!!!!

OP posts:
MaryWestmacott · 03/03/2015 14:11

(BTW - I have a friend with a 5 year old DS having this battle now, he's always like crafts, but since starting school and hearing that 'pink is for girls' he won't play with craft kits that come in pink boxes, at this age, a lot are aimed at girls so all pink packaging. He'd enjoy playing with stuff but now won't because it's not 'for boys'. Tis just a colour, avoid making it too negative.)

VoyageOfDad · 03/03/2015 14:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SoupDragon · 03/03/2015 14:12

I hate pink and didn't have a huge amount of trouble dressing DD. She did wear some boy stuff too but the sizing can be different so you need to watch that as they get older.

Skeppers · 03/03/2015 14:12

I bought a couple of funky t-shirts in River Island yesterday; both in the 'boys' section but I thought they were fairly non-specific. The assistant said (as I was paying) "Are these for your little boy?" so I told her that we don't know what we're having yet...the look she gave me was priceless! I plan on dressing my child in whatever the heck they want to wear (even if that does include pink frills...boak)

But River Island has some awesome stuff. I bought a luminous yellow 'Eat. Sleep. Play. Repeat.' t-shirt! Grin

SoupDragon · 03/03/2015 14:13

Pumpkin Patch used to be good with a lot of green, purple and turquoise but you can only get it online now I think.

stubbornstains · 03/03/2015 14:14

I get you OP. And I bet you've been to ASDA over the last couple of months....For baby clothes, there is one white aisle, one pink aisle, and one blue aisle. Fucking exclusively Angry. I was looking for some nice, bright, gender neutral baby clothes.

It's also interesting how many childrens' clothes that aren't pink or blue are subtly gendered....I'm thinking particularly of red or green tops that would be good for DS, except that they have little bows, or embroidered flowers. Genuinely neutral is quite rare.

But I'm going to recommend what I always do on these threads.....Dylon! Both white, pale pink and pale blue will dye a lovely shade of purple Grin.

SantasLittleMonkeyButler · 03/03/2015 14:14

Ah, I think you'll find it easier as DD gets older.

DD is 3.6 and barely has any pink in her wardrobe at all. Not because I am anti-pink in any way, but because the nicest clothes I have seen have happened to be in other colours. She has probably more blue than any other colour.

I would agree that baby clothes did seem to be more pink orientated though. I suppose the shops are just selling what most people seem to want. Once DD gets to 12 months + you should notice the change.

StaircaseAtTheUniversity · 03/03/2015 14:19

I purposely put my 8 month old DD in boys tee shirts and stuff because some of the stuff out there is godawful. The boys range is so much brighter and cooler in a lot of shops and she still looks pretty, just not sickly.

spiderlight · 03/03/2015 14:21

www.polarnopyret.co.uk/ do loads of non-pink and unisex clothes:

www.polarnopyretusa.com/index/page/static/subpage/guide_unisex

girliefriend · 03/03/2015 14:21

I think you will find it easier as your dd gets older that said there is nothing wrong with putting your baby girl in pretty pink sleep suits - its just clothes!!

My dd is 9yo and lives in tracksuit bottoms and hoodies - I miss the pretty outfits!! She would be mortified if I bought her something pink now Grin

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