Clothing Styles for Baby Girls Different in Portland and Other Places

I had never heard of ridiculous brand name baby clothes until I lived in Scottsdale... How do you put Gucci on someone who will poop in it?? But certainly not every parent around here buys crazy stuff like that. There is maybe a bit more pink-sparkle here than in New England, where I grew up.

I'm not a huge fan of pink, either. I have two boys, and I wanted to avoid certain things with them initially- too stereotyped, made in China, toxic dyes, bla bla bla. Then I became an actual parent and realized that whatever was clean and on the top of the pile was going on their bodies until the next food/paint/dirt/bodily function incident. I was just grateful to have a pile of clothes big enough that I didn't have to do laundry five times a day. Bring on the WWE muscle shirt!!

Okay, first, I live here in Portland and see PLENTY (plenty!!!) of little girls, out and about in pink-- tutus, dresses, pants, gasp! There is pink everywhere. We are not allergic to pink at all...

So, what your sister is saying is silly. Sure, there are some diehard "my kid will be dressed in clothing which doesn't indicate gender" clothes, and a few parents out there with Star Wars and Che Guevara onesies on their babies (so much about the parent, right!?) but unless you are trying to break your arm patting yourself on the back for being a 'hip' parent, no one worth knowing really gives a rats behind what you put your kid in.Most moms would agree that whatever your kid wears-- and wears easily-- is ideal and I can't think of a mom who would intentionally limit their child's wardrobe of available clothing because of a color. That's just silly.

I'd say girls and boys here are usually encouraged to dress comfortably and appropriate to the occasion. That runs the gamut, so we have princess sparkles on some girls, pinafores (I've actually seen them), running pants, leggings, Hanna Andersson (popular), camo-- you name it, I've seen it.

I think that pink baby clothes don't appeal to THAT person who happens to live in Portland.
I'm sure there are plenty of TX and CA moms that don't buy pink & sparkly either.
No more, no less.

IMO, that just sounds like regional or parental preferences. Many people are shying away from traditional girly girl clothes for infants and toddlers, but I have a friend who lives in Portland and her girls wear pink and she's never mentioned a problem. Sounds like the sister has very different ideas of what she wants her kid to wear. The friend should just donate them or sell them on ebay. Someone will want them.

I don't know that we have a regional style for children other than "clothing". My daughter wears jeans, hoodies, skirts, dresses, leggings, tights...normal kid stuff. She only once got a boy giving her a hassle for wearing dino-themed shirts and the teacher told her anyone can wear dinosaurs, and that was that. I suspect that flexibility in gender norms (even mild, like a pink shirt for a boy) varies on region.

I live in portland,oregon. I see lots of pink and traditional colors. The retro/urban thing is a trend that started several years ago. I shop in consignment and thrift stores and see lots of traditional colors as well as less traditional colors.

First, what part of Oregon is she from? A large metropolitan city or a smaller community? That will make a difference. I also suggest that she may have tried shops that are more focused on on the retro theme. Actually I've not seen much retro styles in consignment shops. Colors different pastels is common. There are also much pink, girly clothes too. I suggest that her friend just wanted a style different than traditional. We have both in Oregon.

Smaller communities tend to dress more traditionally. Please do not assume that a community is one way based on limited information.

I am surprised someone would reject hand me downs and her reasoning is really weird to me. To each his own I guess.

I suppose all areas have their 'thing" with style bit I wouldn't think it is that drastically different.

Some areas are more conservative or just different. For instance, I have family in rural MS and the way some of them dress is like my daughter dressed a few years ago. One trend I have seen over the last 2 years is when they post prom pictures, they have different styles prom dresses, some very pretty but then they wear sneakers with them.. ??

I have family who asks for our hand me downs but I stopped sending them because I found out they were not using them, they were being sold online and in resale shops. I can do that myself!!

Around here, the girls wear the spiked heels with prom dresses and formal attire. Everyone is more formal here for things like that.

I think there are a lot of variances here in my area of Dallas. There is a lot of bling but then you see other styles that are different but nice as well. Some girls here wear cowboy boots with a nice dress, UGH.

That is not our style... we don't own western attire of any kind. We tend to stick with classics vs the fads but each family (girl) is different. I know the trend used to be the big hair and some women still have it but that is so not us.

It is interesting to see the differences in different areas of the country. We are always entertained when we go back to visit because the clothing and even music is what has been there done that here in Dallas.

I wouldn't dream of dressing my kids in pink either. I prefer the whimsical styles of Naartjie, the classic styles of Zara and the drab styles of Wild Mango but there was a time when my girls loved pink and sparkly and they get to wear sparkly and pink…EVERYWHERE! Like sparkly bubble gums. They loved it so much (sometimes bordering on the gaudy) that I forgot how much I hated pink.

***Um, actually no Dana, my girls had almost no pink and I wear mostly black. But lots of people I see put their girls in pink, so what? Not sure where your comment is coming from. I was trying to guess why other people would be anti-pink. I really don't care about pink one way or the other personally.***

Whatever's cheap where we live. I'm sure not EVERYONE in Oregon follows fashion trends for infants. Maybe just the hipster feminist crowd doesn't want to "force gender" on female babies with pink (picturing an episode of Portlandia or something). Certainly some babies are left to suffer in pink clothes from well-meaning grandparents...She CAN donate. I think she was exaggerating :) If not, weird!

i'm betting it's more about this mom's personal preference. i can't imagine that oregon is that group-think about colors and fashion preferences.
ETA, wow, dana K, who piddled in your post-toasties?
i sometimes DO wear pink and sparkles, even at my advanced age. and i've never been a girlie-girl!
khairete
S.

Polite way of the sister saying she didn't want to dress her child in bows, tutus and 73 shades of pink. I wouldn't either but I might not be so nice about it. And wow Amy j. is pink w/ sparkles your regular attire? Not mine.

ETA: The feminist hipster crowd not 'forcing gender' on their little ones sounds just a tiny little bit like stereotyping and judging to me. Sorry if it was not intended that way.

I'm not a pink fan. I did buy some pink and white stuff when our daughter was born but not much. However, our daughter was very girlie and liked dresses. She really didn't care about the color but it had to be dresses.

I think that is a Mom who doesn't want to dress her kid in pink.

I wouldn't dress my little girl in sparkles, pink, and bows either, unless that was something she requested once old enough, so I can understand her turning them down. I would turn them down as well so that my friend could give them to someone who would actually use them.