Dressing Teens
I feel like everywhere I turn lately, I’m getting questions about dressing teens. It’s coming from clients (teens and moms), my daughter, family, and friends. I’m sure it’s because I’m in this stage of life with my family, but it’s a HOT topic in my world so I thought I would share a few observations and tips.
OBSERVATIONS
We have continued to become more and more casual as a society. Compare how we dress currently to the 1950’s and 1960’s. It’s socially acceptable to wear athleisure everywhere, for women, men, and teens. Covid didn’t help with that. Therefore our teens don’t have as much practice in dressing. And they certainly don’t want to stand out!!! On top of this acceptable casualness, teens seem to be wearing skimpy clothes. They want to look age appropriate and not frumpy. We also have never had more brand options than we do today. However with this plethora of options, there is SO much fast fashion that our teens are targeted to consume. I get it, we don’t want to spend a fortune on clothes for them with their changing bodies and changing styles. I’m constantly in search of brands that don’t fall apart instantly, made out of quality fabrics, that don’t cost a fortune AND my teens will approve. With so many options at our fingertips, it’s still a challenge in teaching our girls how to dress appropriately.
TIPS
Stress the importance of dressing. I find myself fighting with my daughter and then I take a step back to realize I haven’t properly communicated the importance of dressing. So often teens will say things like, “Why are you judging me on my clothes?” OR “I don’t need to change who I am.” The truth of the matter is within the first 7 seconds of meeting, people will have a solid impression of who you are. Studies have shown that well dressed people are more confident and respected by their colleagues & peers. It’s clear that the way a person dresses can affect how successful they are and we are all working towards setting up our kids for success.
How to teach them to dress
Start with teaching them about the Wardrobe Essentials. It’s your foundation and something they should learn early. We all need our basics to create an outfit.
Getting fitted for a proper bra is a must! If your teen is like mine, she only wants to wear a sports bra and doesn’t understand why it’s important for a proper bra…and strapless bra. If you haven’t done this yet, I would suggest Nordstrom or Petticoat Fair.
There is no better way to teach than showing them. You can show them by sharing how you are shopping (take them along) for yourself and how you are getting dressed daily or for special occasions. We all learn by what we see.
When to shop. In a fast-paced world where we have lots of things at our fingertips, it is easy to shop last minute. I’m here to encourage you to get into a habit of shopping proactively. It’s so important to slowly work on it and plan with plenty of time. I know it’s easier said than done and there are exceptions. I would suggest the following guidelines:
August-Shop for the Fall
October-Shop for the Holidays
February-Shop for the Spring
April-Shop for the Summer
Present opportunities for them to dress up. Practice makes perfect as the saying goes. If they don’t have a consistent opportunity to dress up then how should they know how to do it or what is acceptable. I would encourage them to step it up a tiny notch when you do have opportunities. I know we can get away with more in a casual city like Austin, but in most of the world you would dress up a bit more. If you don’t currently have opportunities, create some for them. Examples include, Church/Synagogue, Family Special Occasion Dinners, NCL, Broadway Shows/Theatre, Weddings, and Travel.
Expose them to other places other than what’s at home. I know we run into this in our household…only wanting to wear what we see from our little bubble….from our community and our circle of friends. There is SO much more out there in the world and it’s important that we expose our kiddos to different options. This is true in fashion and many other topics too. 🙂
The Struggle is real but yet an opportunity to teach our teens. To teach them the importance of dressing. To teach them how to dress. To teach them how to carry themselves out into the world. This is something that doesn’t happen overnight and takes time to evolve. You’ve got this mamas! It’s important to invest in our kiddos and their future!
with LOVE and grace,
Elizabeth