On school days, my daughter’s usually dressed and downstairs for breakfast lightning quick. The other day, though, she spent extra time getting ready.
It was picture day at New Life Academy of Excellence and she wanted to be super pretty. She took extra care to brush her hair. The outfit had been laid off the night before. Black and white dress, white tights, and white shoes, though Dad tried to convince her black dress shoes carried more class.
In 2004, one of my first columns dealt with fashions and styles peddled to prepubescent girls and teens. The low-rider jeans, spaghetti-string tops and such.
Kristina Cersey, a former model from Grayson, met me at the Mall of Georgia to browse through several stores. She’d point out skimpy attire that wouldn’t fit anybody older than 18.
At the time, she was on a personal mission to let little girls know that beauty comes from within. “They haven’t grow up and figured out their own styles,” she told me. “So they just adopt the styles that are on the magazine covers or the store racks.”
Wednesday, this headline accompanied one of the most viewed stories online at ajc.com: "Abercrombie & Fitch rethinks marketing provocative bikini tops to tweens."
AJC reporter Christian Boone explained that tweens meant girls as young as 7. Apparently the retailer bowed to harsh criticism and decided not to push its “push-up” bikini tops on young minds.
“We’ve re-categorized the Ashley swimsuit as padded,” according to a statement posted Monday on the Abercrombie Kids Facebook page. “We agree with those who say it is best ‘suited’ for girls age 12 and older.”
Like that’s better.
We seem to be in a never-ending rush to push the envelope when it comes to young people’s pop culture, fashion and hipness. Evidence abounds.
Catch any of the locally televised high school basketball playoffs? Many of the gifted young athletes already sport tattoos up and down their arms. Check out the scene at any mall. Too many naturally pretty girls, mere babies, already have pierced noses or studs around their mouths.
One can decorate or desecrate his or her body in any way imaginable. One can wear the skimpiest outfits with the most far-out shoes. These days, though, that rite of passage into adulthood occurs too early. It’s been dumbed down to oh, say 15- and 16-year-olds. Too much. Too soon. They’ve barely lived life, much less have a story to tell.
Perhaps the smart people at Abercrombie & Fitch thought they were being clever with this whole push-up bra thing. Because we’re all so jaded, maybe they thought it would fly under the radar. Or maybe it generated just the buzz they sought and that was the plan from the get-go. Who knows.
But the story behind the story is what saddens. Parents aplenty, in cities and suburbs, probably are snapping up the push-up tops or padded tops for their children. Their babies.
For them, picture day is everyday.
Rick Badie, an Opinion columnist, is based in Gwinnett. Reach him at rbadie@ajc.com or 770-263-3875.
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