Wonder Times Staff Blog: Hand-Me-Down-Heaven

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Staff Blog: The Wonder Times

Wondertime staffers share their experience with big issues of the day

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November 17, 2008

Hand-Me-Down Heaven

more in the wonder times:

By Naomi Shulman

A few weeks ago I was reading Jennifer Baumgardner's "Fashion Statement," and it got me thinking. I'm a clotheshorse, or at least would like to be; even though I can't afford anything that graces the pages of Vogue, I like to keep up with the trends, much like an armchair football fan will study the sport pages. I can't afford anything in the Oilily line, either, but my kids look just as adorable as any of their models.

Part of their adorability is just good genes. (Ahem.) But part of it is the company I run with. Is it a coincidence that several of my friends happen to have girls a couple years older than my eldest daughter? Yes, but it's a happy one, because these friends have clothes they need to unload, and I am all too willing to be the dumping ground. Even more happily, their tastes run along the same lines as mine — we're talking Swedish organic-cotton playdresses and Italian strappy maryjane sneakers here.

I know for some there's a stigma associated with taking hand-me-downs. As far as I'm concerned, as long as the article of clothing is cute and in good condition, it belongs on my kid's back. But the issue can be fraught, as Baumgardner points out in her thoughtful piece. I grew up with less than many of my friends; I know how it feels to not have the Swatch watches and Guess jean jackets everyone else has. So I'll go to great lengths to make sure my girls don't feel like they're poorly shod. I just don't want to spend a lot of money doing it.

Thanks to the wealth of my friends' daughters' castoffs, this year the only back-to-school item I had to buy for Lila was a pair of shoes. I got her top-of-the-line, patent leather, shiny-buckled, extra-bouncy maryjanes with a kick-ass tread. And I got them in black so they won't stain, because someday — you betcha — they'll be handed down to Stella.

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