#6 "Welcome to "Toddlercore": How Dressing Like a 2-Year-Old Became the Fashion World's Latest Craze"

           These past few months, fashion trends have taken a sharp turn from the classics and dived into an era of playful prints and tendencies. The summer of 2014 have not displayed the usual, classic summer trends people have followed before, but brought out many different yet familiar ideas. Though many believe that these fashion innovations are original and distinct, it is actually a slight different copy of a former group of “fashion people”: children. The trends are believed to have started out from the popular music festival, Coachella, which is centered in the Californian desert. Items such as flower crowns, heart shaped sunglasses, and printed shirts have prevailed during this time. All fashion magazines and blogs were commenting, positively, about these changes and influences; the amount of articles that have rooted out from the festival was great just as Fashion Week seasons, which are the center of attention at all times. However, these trends are not original; in fact, it only makes it seem like adults have stolen their children’s clothing. Apparels such as pineapple printed t-shirt or junk food printed onesies, flower crowns, and overalls are usually what children wear. As celebrities begin to wear and set trends on the fashion societies, the usage of “toddler-inspired” clothing have highly increased. Thus, the new summer trend now, which was supposedly inspired by toddlers, marked the beginning of “toddlercore”.

           Christy O’Shoney, author of the article, analyzes and expresses her thoughts about the latest fashion trends. Unlike other authors from different magazines, she views these innovations not as “chic”, but rather childish. She does not mock the trend, however she does express her disagreement by using words such as “toddlercore” and “toddler-inspired fashion”. She analyzes specific iconic items and connects them to the fashion of children: pineapple prints, flower crowns, junk food onesies, and overalls. To draw a picture of how these child like trends ended up in high end fashion lines, O’Shoney incorporates tangible examples, such as mentioning the overall looks of the London Fashion Week, the Moschino Cheap and Chic Collection, popular fashion pictures in Pinterest, and how celebrities like Olivia Palermo, who is considered a modern fashion icon, have taken the same route into “toddlercore”. Overall, the O’Shoney is very descriptive and even quite humorous; she analyzes the current situation while including her feedback on such events.

http://www.salon.com/2014/08/21/welcome_to_toddlercore_how_dressing_like_a_2_year_old_became_the_fashion_worlds_latest_craze/