I Must Confess: I Can’t Get Enough of ‘Mommy and Me’ Fashion

I never thought of myself as someone who’d be a part of the “mommy and me” dressing tribe. In reality, I figured I might be just the alternative: Growing up, I despised while my mom could dress my sister and me in the same clothing. I consider throwing my hands up, kicking and screaming, making up a few excuses for why I sincerely couldn’t wear whatever she had picked out. I assume, in a way, I felt as though it erased our man or woman personalities at a time after I valued status more than something. Now, I have my kids. And even as “mommy and me” dressing is bigger than it’s ever been, something approximately the trend gave me pause.

As a grown female, why might I need to dress like my kids?

Thanks to celebrities like Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian West, “mommy and me” dressing has skyrocketed in recent years. And it’s now not just the Guccis and Oscar de Los Angeles Rentas of the sector getting into it: Beloved indie labels like Marysia and Does have released special tablets that allow mothers to buy garments with coordinating (if not specific) variations for their children. They may even hire them.

It wasn’t until these days that I began reconsidering my stance on “mommy and me” dressing—and it turned into all because of me -and-a-1/2-12 months-vintage. She’ll waltz into my room carrying a stripe, get dressed, and immediately go to my drawer and pick out a similar sample for me to wear. She’ll ask to match our pajamas when it’s bedtime. When I get home from work and alternate, she’ll strive on anything coat or footwear I’d been sporting that day.

And it’s no longer simply my daughter who does this. From Maisonette’s posh children’s website, Sylvana Ward Durrett says “Mommy and Me” is a big part of its enterprise. Interest comes from dad, mom, and children: “They need to put on your shoes, your handbags, your attire—giving them that capability in a valuable matching PJ set or a summer cowl-up is a win for each.” She says the demand has been so high that Maisonette now has its devoted phase, Maman & Míni. (She informs me that “daddy and me” swim sells properly, too.)

Rebeca Hessel Cohen of LoveShackFancy first dabbled in “Mommy and Me” when her daughter was one and a 1/2, through collaboration with Julia Restoin-Roitfeld’s Romy and the Bunnies. She kept making those miniaturized antique-stimulated dresses for her kids, which stuck. “It became very herbal for me because my women and I desired to wear clothes that felt similar,” she says. “Now we’ve visible with the two shops that we have plenty of generational consumers—little women to grandmas, ages one to eighty-five. Mothers and daughters love to save together in our shops. It’s a lovely enjoyment for them to proportion together.”

The experiential aspect is what’s crucial to buyers—and me, too. I indulge my daughter when she insists we coordinate our stripes. I’m not going to lie: I love that my daughter does this. It’s delightful. (Plus, in our complementary clothing, we appearance…form of sublime?) Besides, it makes her so satisfied. I don’t need to deny her that joy.

“I think ‘mommy and me,’ and I recall shopping with my mother,” says Hessel Cohen. “Those have been constantly the best days, something I looked ahead to.” I’ve observed—and, frankly, began to like—”Mommy and me” for that reason. You don’t always need to wear the precise identical babydoll dress as your little one: You may have a laugh coordinating prints and distinctive layout elements in silhouettes properly perfect in your respective tiers in life. Or you may pass the garb altogether and opt for mini-me accessories. Check a number of the “mommy and portions” I’m eyeing.