The podcast series titled Articles of Interest is hosted by producer Avery Trufelman, accompanied in the first episode Kids’ Clothes by Joe Rosenberg, Erin Algeo, Morgan, and Lana Hogue, all with varying experience in the realm of children’s clothing.
The episode begins with a brief history of punch cards and their evolution from fabric production to early computing, serving as an introduction to the overarching theme of the series: the back-and-forth exchange between fashion and culture, their intertwined paths. They then delve into the primary topic of children’s clothing. Rosemberg shares his experience as a little person struggling to find adult-appropriate clothing in the children’s section full of eccentric styles, after which Algeo, a textile museum curator, briefly discusses the history of children’s clothing in America. Morgan, a technical designer for a children’s clothing company, and Hogue, an expert in garment development, share their insights on the production of kids’ clothes. Like all other clothing, children’s clothing is a reflection of our culture – in particular, a reflection of our expectations of children and of our concept of childhood.
As Algeo describes, children’s clothes weren’t always so funky and bright. The change occurred as the culture around childhood itself changed. In the past, only upper-class, non-working children could have distinct “children’s clothes” – or childhoods at all – and even then, those “children’s clothes” were entirely different to those we have today. The idea of childhood at this time was more about “cultivation” of future adults than the value of childhood itself, and that was reflected in the clothing: corsets for little boys and girls to keep their posture upright, laced underneath miniature, warped versions of adult garments. What the popular culture expected of children shaped the clothing they wore, which in turn shaped the children, who in turn shaped the culture – an endless cycle of give-and-take.
As Trufelman put it, the state of children’s fashion “has everything to do with our evolving concepts of childhood, and how much freedom and protection we think children ought to have” (Kid’s Clothes 00:17:51 – 00:18:00). In the 18th century, Rousseau’s writings and the introduction of child labor laws shifted the American cultural attitude around childhood more towards “freedom and protection” and away from labor and “cultivation”. Children’s fashion shifted with it. That freedom is reflected in the clothing’s newly bright and loud designs, and in their freedom of movement. Simultaneously, due to the cultural shift towards protection of children, a slew of child safety regulations on clothing production (detailed by Morgan) restrict their design. Modern children’s tastes have been molded around these clothes, their personalities melding with the present-day zeitgeist to mold the fashion and children of tomorrow.
This begs the question: what may other cultures’ children’s fashion reveal about their views on childhood? And – considering the low level of input from children currently taken into account during clothing development – how would the world of children’s fashion change if children themselves were given more authority on its production?
Works Cited
Trufelman, Avery, host. “Kids’ Clothes.” Articles of Interest, episode 1, 99% Invisible, 15 September 2018, https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/kids-clothes-articles-of-interest-1/.
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