To wonder why parents dress their children in designer gear

[LemonMead]

Posting this in the knowledge that it's none of my business how other mums dress their kids, but I'm genuinely really curious because it's such an unrelatable position for me.

There's a lass at my DD's school who is dressed solely in designer gear - we're talking Gucci, Valentino, Yeezy trainers etc. Her mum is the same - head to toe labels.

When they go on holiday, she posts pics of the kid at famous restaurants (with LV wallet prominently featured), next to designer boutiques - we even had one of the kid perched on a Fendi golf cart.

How do you get a kid to care about designer labels? And what drives a desire to dress solely in super expensive clothes? It doesn't seem like a healthy value system, so I'm curious if anyone can explain it.

It’s a status thing and also some people are knobs

No idea but I am not putting 'free' advertising on my child, if the designers what me to stick their label items on my child they should pay me to advertise for them not the other way round

My mum bought my new baby a Tommy Hilfiger tracksuit.

She'd seen it in a shop, thought it was sweet and she had the money to pay for it.

Only time that particular son has ever looked cool.

I’m not sure a child would care as such….they just wear what their parents buy them

They can afford it, and are showing off just a little bit, and saying their child is as expensively dressed as the children of the rich and famous. Or it's just a bit of fun.

More money than sense.

Yeah, I'm just trying to imagine getting my DD to stand in front of a Fendi golf cart or a Valentino store for a pic. I can't imagine what I'd have to say to get her to give a shit 😂

Same with the impractical but expensive clothing or the £500 trainers. It's alien to me.

The people I know who do this think it's a reflection of how much they love their kids. For them, having the right image is important, and showing that they have the money to spend on their kids is a way of showing their kids are looked after.

A few of them also like dressing kids as mini me's and being in matching designer, but that's in addition to the security of having the right image.

I struggle to understand this too. Especially parents who cannot afford it

Perhaps low self esteem and the need for validation. If social media didn’t exist, would they still buy all the expensive labels?

It looks grim and shallow

Saw this recently.

I don’t agree….it’s the cultural norm for many …..that’s how the kids are raised….and it was happening long before social media properly took off where I live in the NW

I agree. I mean, I try not to judge but 1) we all do a bit, don't we and 2) when practicality and comfort is sacrificed for designer fashion, it seems unfair on the kid.

I buy most of my DD's clothes from Vinted because 1) she's growing so rapidly and 2) I want her to be able to get muddy/adventurous without worrying about wrecking her expensive clothes or simply not being able to be as active.

Designer girl often seen in pictures wearing high-neck lacy designer dresses and pretty shoes, for example.

It looks awful. Makes the kids look tacky and very grown up.

I bought RL tshirt for 1 yo today at charity shop , good quality at asda price lol

I heard via a colleague of her relation who was taking her little Gdd shopping. She happened to see a sparkly jumper she thought a child that age would love.
The child turned her nose up. ‘I only wear designer.’ She was THREE!

I heard not long afterwards that the parents were in debt and badgering the granny for loans.

That is so sad. IME, kids usually want comfy and colourful until they get influenced out of it.

I had the odd charity shop gem when the kids were small - but it's only now they're early teens and the growing has slowed down slightly that I'll even really fork out for things like those fucking Nike Pro shorts that DD1 has had superglued to her ever since I bought 'em.

Can't argue with a bit of chazza treasure!

My dad’s girlfriend’s son dresses his son like this. To the point we’re my dad has bought a wardrobe of clothes for the boy when he comes to their house. They change him out of the designer stuff so he can ‘be a kid’ then put them back on at the end of the stay.

I think there's a bit of reverse snobbery here.

I say that as someone who does not own or buy any designer clothes and I even dislike the head to toe in JD. My youngest kid goes out in an array of mismatched colours with Christmas socks.

But I guess these are people who are very into clothes and fashion and enjoy dressing their children up.

I buy quality stuff, which can be expensive. Not designer.

My brain goes to automatically calculate how many weeks worth of food shopping the cost of that one pair of trainers would buy my family.
No other thought enters my head, zero envy, zero judgement, just straight to feeding my family.

Another world entirely.

I mean, you're not wrong - I do look at it and think "Yuck!" for all the reasons I mentioned (and some PP have mentioned too). Mostly, though, I'm just trying to get my head around why. It's morbid curiosity, I guess.