Help! Dissertation Research on girls clothing for 9-11 year olds, please share your opinions

[LouisaMarion]

Hi there!

I am in my final year studying Fashion Managementat Nottingham Trent University. I'm conducting research for my dissertation on childrenswear and the pre-teen market.
I would really appreciate some opinions and feedback from parents for these 4 quick questions!
Thank you for your time, you're really helping me out!
Louisa x

1. At what age do you believe girls begin to adopt more 'teen' attitudes towards clothing and appearance? Do you think this has changed in the last 10 years?

2. What are your views on age appropriate clothing- do you believe girls are wearing more ‘adult’ styled clothing in recent years? (i.e. less child character printed clothing, more adult trends such as lace, slogans,)

3. Do you believe that there should be more pressure on retailers and suppliers to consider age appropriateness over trend when producing children’s clothing?

4. What are your views on the argument that children today are growing up too quickly?

1. around 12 (I am in the countryside)
2. yes, sadly. it is pushed in the shops
3. Yes, definitely. I do not want my dd (9) wearing lots of stuff we see
4. Yes, I think they are.

caveat. my dd is a tomboy and wears clothes for comfort and warmth

good luck.

1.At what age do you believe girls begin to adopt more 'teen' attitudes towards clothing and appearance? Do you think this has changed in the last 10 years? I don't know what a teen attitude towards clothing is. DD has always had a strong opinion on what she wears, her style has evolved over the years - mine has to...that's fashion for you. Can't comment about the teen attitude 10 years ago.

2.What are your views on age appropriate clothing- do you believe girls are wearing more ‘adult’ styled clothing in recent years? (i.e. less child character printed clothing, more adult trends such as lace, slogans,)

I think some girls are wearing lace, some are not, depends on their style.

3.Do you believe that there should be more pressure on retailers and suppliers to consider age appropriateness over trend when producing children’s clothing?
What is age appropriate? Who decides? Where should the pressure come from? There's plenty of choice out there, parents buy or they don't buy - retailers respond accordingly.
4.What are your views on the argument that children today are growing up too quickly?
I think while some kids like to appear grown up in the way they present themselves, they still behave very much like children and for much longer than they used to. Kids used to go out to work at 14 to help support their families - now that is what I call growing up too quickly.

1. It varies with the child, anytime from 9 years and def by 11/12.
2. It is extremely difficult to buy pre-teen clothes that are age appropriate. Very few retailers cater for this market and those that do seem to opt for inappropriate looks, New Look teenager range is a good example!
3. Absolutely - give me a retailer that caters for pre-teens and young teens and provides a good quality, stylish, age appropriate look. Belly tops are banned in this house!
4. Absolutely, too much media pressure and peer pressure.

1.10-12.They can look up so much stuff on line and don't realise that some of it is meant for older girls and sexualised.Dd is 13 now and is more body conscious and is mostly wearing black and not yet into make up so I am spared too much worry .
Found buying preeteen clothes very difficult,she is tall and and always wearing things for a year or so older than her age.She went through a phase of wanting lcae but luckily that went when we,luckily,could never find anything to fit.She also went through a phase of cutting up clothes to change them!
3..Yes,all the nice thing for girls stop at age 5 then most of the choice is downsized teen clothes.As a parent I had to try to influence her choices early on.Also got sick of everything being pink or lilac when she was smaller.The other problem was finding dresses and tops that we not sleeveless,kids still get easily burnt shoulders when they're over 5.
4.Not sure if they grow up too quickly,some maybe if they follow celebrity and that side of fashion.They seem to worry about their looks much earlier and that makes coping with all the natural changes harder and selfies should be banned,we just had mirrors to contend with and a bad hair day was not immortalised digitally.

1. At what age do you believe girls begin to adopt more 'teen' attitudes towards clothing and appearance? Do you think this has changed in the last 10 years?

Last 10 yrs or last 40 yrs... no, not changed ime. Around age 9-10yo maybe for transition, but really it's a spectrum & huge range.

2.What are your views on age appropriate clothing- do you believe girls are wearing more ‘adult’ styled clothing in recent years? (i.e. less child character printed clothing, more adult trends such as lace, slogans,)

No I don't think they wear more adult style clothing now at an earlier age. Maybe compared to kids in about 1900.

3.Do you believe that there should be more pressure on retailers and suppliers to consider age appropriateness over trend when producing children’s clothing?

Adults make the decisions. Adults have the money to buy stuff. Parents could put the pressure on Now - if they wanted to.

4.What are your views on the argument that children today are growing up too quickly?

Mostly silly hype. My grandfather worried about the same thing in his letters... in 1935 when his eldest daughter was 13.