If you had asked me 24 hours ago if it was possible for a child to wear too much Petit Bateau I would have said no. But that was before I saw the 8-year-old girl in a striped shirt, striped skirt, and striped knee socks walking down the rue du Rocher with her mother Sunday afternoon. The only body parts not covered by stripes were her kneecaps and her hands.
What made this worse? The stripes were all navy blue and white. If there had been some variation in color, it could have had a sort of happy Scandinavian, Oilily effect. But no.
How is the mother going to explain that outfit down the road? “Chérie, I wanted you to look like a prison escapee?" or "I thought it might be interesting to watch you give people seizures?”
You could just tell that the mom thought the kid looked adorable; this outfit was no accident.
Striped knee socks. Some people are sick I tell you.
It got me contemplating which kiddie fashion crime is more liable to induce nausea, The Petit Bateau Striped Assault or, on the other end of the spectrum, The Baby Mohawk. I think the mohawks win. You know, that unpleasant celebrity aftertaste does it every time.
I pass the Petit Bateau shop every time I go to the Metropolitan Museum. Can't say that I've studied the vitrines - but I haven't suffered any seizures.
Posted by: R J Keefe | 08 May 2006 at 09:13 PM
Don't get me wrong, I love the Petit Bateau. Nothing makes me happier than seeing children in the Parc Monceau throwing balls around dressed like little sailors or children of yore. This particular instance was just... a lot.
Posted by: Coquette | 08 May 2006 at 09:55 PM
i agree, mohawks win, especially the association with everyone's favorite (though not mine) tomb raiding actress turned humanitarian.
speaking of children and clothes, there was an american tv commercial a long long time ago with a little girl (maybe 8 yo?) wearing an empire waist knee-length dress, stockings, mary janes, and a beret that i to this day still uphold as the ideal outfit for a little girl. it almost made me want one (a child, not the outfit).
Posted by: paradise | 08 May 2006 at 10:27 PM
Petit bateau isn't ugly or a bad-looking brand. It was just a mum with very poor taste, sometimes people can't take care of their children's aspect...
Posted by: seb | 08 May 2006 at 10:31 PM
Just imagine how that woman dresses up her inevitable lap dog.
Posted by: chester | 08 May 2006 at 10:56 PM
Oh, no...proof that there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Still, I'd take the stripes over the kiddie mohawk anyday. At least you can change their outfits multiple times in a day. Hair? Not so much.
Posted by: l | 09 May 2006 at 12:37 AM
I actually saw a one year old in a stroller wearing a t-shirt that said, "I'm With Stupid," which I guess is pretty funny if the mother wheeling the stroller actually bought it.
(I know... I know... this would never happen in France...)
Posted by: Neil | 09 May 2006 at 01:50 AM
and the other day, I saw a japanese 1 year old wearing a tshirt that said "cet enfant pousse bien" ...(in french) kind of funny but I am not sure he'd find it funny if he understood.
Posted by: Pink | 09 May 2006 at 03:29 AM
Petit Bateau is cute, but some parents don't seem to realize that kids outgrow clothes almost as soon as they're bought, so there's no point in buying so much clothing for a small kid especially if it's that expensive. So dressing the kid only in Petit Bateau is a tad excessive.
Oh and Pink, the kid wouldn't have probably understood really because I've never heard of "Un enfant pousse bien" in French and that's my first language ! I had never thought of comparing a child to a vegetable, but everything is possible in Japan or so it seems. Instant translators such as babelfish shouldn't exist !
Posted by: KarinAlyssa | 09 May 2006 at 03:56 AM
Pink: What does "pousse" mean?
Neil: That's awesome. Was it Britney Spears' kid?
Coquette:I had a similar odd experience where someone small was wearing all pink and carrying a pink umbrella. I wasn't wearing my glasses and so smiled at her and sort of cood and waved and told her I liked her outfit...even gave her a thumb's up.
If she could have, she would have taken me down; turned out she was a little person and I should never take my glasses off. She shouldn't have been wearing all pink, and this child shouldn't have been wearing all stripes.
I'm not sure why I told you this story. They're both short and improperly dressed?
There's a special place in hell for people like me.
Xo
m
Posted by: maha | 09 May 2006 at 01:52 PM
Don't be so sure the ugly outfit was the mother's fault. An 8-year-old girl can put up a formidable fight for the clothes she wants. Sometimes the mother just doesn't want to fight that battle 100% of the time. Signed, One Who Knows
Posted by: Sedulia | 09 May 2006 at 03:14 PM
Oilily is the best.
I agree that pretentious child mohawks win.
Posted by: eurobrat | 09 May 2006 at 04:49 PM
dont little kids deserve to be hardcore too? doesn't your toddler want to be a little punk-rock today? some kids just gotta wear a mohawk, and hey, its better than a bowl cut.
Posted by: seafoam | 09 May 2006 at 10:29 PM
My ex husband used to return our infants home in head to toe tye dye. I still think this is when my daughter decided that wearing every color under the sun was appropriate and, I blame him.
Posted by: Chantel | 10 May 2006 at 12:25 AM
kids should just be naked all the time.... it's that or wrapped in duct tape and toilet paper...
Posted by: nardac | 10 May 2006 at 03:02 AM
I too love Petit Bateau, but that might have been a bit much. (It is far cheaper to buy in Europe than here in the US, though.)
The remaining question is: did the child match her mother? Because if she did, then, oh dear.
Posted by: Gloria | 10 May 2006 at 07:05 AM
Hi! I'm French and I don't understand the Mohawk thing (no appropriate translation found)
=> so, what's that?
thanks for your explaination!
Nat
Posted by: nat | 10 May 2006 at 01:31 PM
Nat >> Mohawk is what Angelina Jolie's baby Maddox's hairstyle is. David Beckham had the pussy version of it for a while.
Essentially, you shave your entire head except for an approx 2 - 3 inch strip down the middle of your head. Then, with a combination of gel and egg whites, you spike up the middle part as stiffly and as high as it'll go, sectioning it into (usually) 1"...sections, that you shape upwards into a point. Think punk rock, early 80s.
Naturally, the longer the hair, the cooler the effect.
Now. Would you tell me what a "pousse" is, please?
Thanks :)
m
Posted by: maha | 10 May 2006 at 10:08 PM
Oh the horror! And I don't just mean Baby Jail Bird, I mean the horror that now I will have an imaginary, striped toddler in my head every time I pass Petit Bateau!
Posted by: Beth | 10 May 2006 at 10:40 PM
Sounds wretched. However, the kids fashion don't I hate the most is when they're dressed way too old for their age.
Posted by: serena | 11 May 2006 at 06:02 AM
Maha: an expression such as 'ce bébé pousse bien' would never be written down by a French person!
I think that what was meant is 'ce bébé grandit bien', 'pousser' is an expression that is used sometimes (only in oral conversations), especially by old people (eh bien, il a bien poussé votre enfant).
Now there is a second meaning : when little children learn how to go to the loo, when we train them we say 'allez, pousse'. So the T-shirt may as well mean 'mon enfant fait caca facilement'. :-))what an elegant thing to whrite on a T-shirt!!!
I personnally hesistated between both meanings when I first read the sentence...
Posted by: nat | 11 May 2006 at 10:30 AM
Nat, thanks for putting a smile on my face...
I haven't read the word 'caca' in a long time!! What a weird t.
m :)
Posted by: maha | 11 May 2006 at 01:25 PM
Hahah, I love it. I used to live off rue de Rocher (rue de Naples), and I seriously saw pink poodles one night. The people-watching was hilarious. Paris me manque.
Posted by: phebevenus | 12 May 2006 at 12:57 AM
Ooh la love. My mom did me right - check this pick of my in a navy linen suit, circa my being 8 yrs old.
And I can still rock it, age 20-something. It's all about investing in clothing, thanks, Mom.
http://kristopherdukes.com/2006/05/12/elements-of-style-little-short-suit/
Posted by: KRiSTOPHER DUKES | 18 May 2006 at 07:09 AM
I was in Paris this weekend. Every red head caught my eye, checking to see if it was you - but I thought it best not to go up to strangers and say "La Coquette?"
Posted by: Lauren | 21 May 2006 at 03:24 PM
There are worse things you could say to strangers, hehe...
Hope you had a wonderful weekend. A little windy, but there were some nice sunny moments on Saturday.
Posted by: Coquette | 21 May 2006 at 06:24 PM
That girl was me, Coquette! IT WAS ME!
I could kill the brilliant man who thought to open one in Boston in the 80s. I looked like Asian Waldo for a good portion of my life.
Posted by: Asian Lep | 24 May 2006 at 08:21 PM
Guess what?! =) I used to work for Oilily!!!!
At first I thought the combos were insane, then I started to like them, after a while it seemed normal to have these color exploding outfits.. We had to wear them too... That was interesting...
Posted by: Rica | 03 August 2006 at 03:01 AM
After a certain point, she became impassive, detached utterly from him
Posted by: Shox NZ, | 11 January 2011 at 10:31 AM