Girl Clothes Bonanza

Grace's First Attempt to Dress Herself Feb. 22, 2008

I've spent some time talking about how much fun it is to dress my son but I certainly don't want to leave the girls out because they certainly are fun to dress! The difference is that I can find a cute outfit for Grace at just about any clothing store while finding cute outfits for Ethan is more like a treasure hunt. Grace is currently in a dress phase where she vastly prefers to wear a dress over pants. The twirlier the dress the better, and she favors pink and purple. Sometimes I'm mean and make her wear pants because it's just too darn cold to wear a dress or because I'm sick and tired of her wearing the same two dresses for two weeks straight. If I do that she'll wail and cry and tell me that she looks like a boy. Seriously. So I'm buying almost all dresses right now and look back at the days of full control over what she wore with fond memories.

Here's a rundown of girls clothing brands I like.

Matilda Jane. This small clothing company has boomed big in the last year or some of her designs are in super high demand on Ebay where used dresses sell for twice their retail value. Pretty crazy. I first bought the Violet Knot dress last spring and have been in love ever since. I love her choice of fabrics and the funky combos. Grace loves the apron dresses too so it's a win win combination. The nice thing about the knot dresses is that they last quite a while since you can adjust the length so we're getting year number two out of the Violet Knot dress. You have to go through a trunk keeper to purchase the clothes (yes it's one of those sorts of companies) but she sells end of season stock online twice a year and it goes FAST. As in two minutes fast. Remember my frustration after Christmas?

Janie & Jack. Absolutely lovely little girls clothes but tends to be a little more formal then we are at times. Beautiful dresses and classic designs. I find I'm buying less Janie & Jack then I used to because it's harder to find Grace's size on sale (last time the sale rack only had 4 shirts in 4T and 3 were the same design. Ethan's size had tons of shirts, pants, sweaters, socks, etc.). Grace loves the dresses but some of the other outfits are less "her" if you know what I mean. Such pretty clothes though. I think they make me drool a little bit.

Naartjie. I absolutely love Naartjie's summer lines but the fall/winter ones are a little hit and miss. It's a South African brand and features super lightweight and breezy fabrics for their summer clothes. They make tons of dresses that twirl and leggings to coordinate which makes them a big winner in my book. I highly recommend buying Naartjie in the store (Washington Square has one) or used off Ebay instead of online because their website stinks. It's really hard to put outfits together online because the colors in real life are a little "off" sometimes due to different dye lots. Their sizing is kind of funky sometimes too, especially their pants which tend to run huge. Really worth the effort for their fun and funky clothes! I've found Naartjie to have great resale value as well.

Baby Gap. My favorite store to buy jeans for Grace because of those fantastic adjustable waists and they tend to run skinny anyways. They have some really cute stuff at times and the resale is pretty good. The only thing I don't like is their huge variety of shirts with writing on them. For some reason I just don't care for words all over Grace's shirts, least of all a Gap logo. Blech.

Hanna Andersson. I can't say enough good things about the Play Dress Day Dress. Those things are awesome! They're so comfy and Grace will always wear them. They are so well made and wear like iron. I love love love the Hanna Andersson End of Season Sales because I can usually buy ahead and sell the outfit after my kids wear them for the same price. There's a retail store in the Pearl District and an Outlet in Lake Oswego (same exit as 217 to get to Washington Square which is a bonus!). The Outlet has random good deals, like the $7 winter coat I scored in December during the ice storm.

Mini Boden. Yes I love their boys clothes but they're no slouch in the girls department either. I haven't bought as much from Boden for Grace because there's so many other options and it's spendy. What we have bought we love and I think that as Grace gets older this will be a brand we wear more of. I love the heart patch pants!

Gymboree. Ah, the brand the started it all. I just couldn't resist all the cute matching baby girl clothes and when I discovered how easy it was to get cheaply I was hooked. Much to David's chagrin I'm sure! Unfortunately, as my little girl grew it's become apparant that Gymboree doesn't fit her as well as other brands do. It seems to run wide and Grace is anything but wide. I still buy it for her when there's good sales, but I try to stick with dresses since they fit better. I really like their pajamas and socks which can be had for reasonable prices. I'm a fan of the Baby Sale that happens twice a year which makes the new line pajamas $10 or $8 if you have a 20% off coupon. Comparable to Carters but better quality and I can sell them when we're done with them. What a bonus. I also like their End of Season sales. Just last week I bought 16 items for $63.79 and sold my Gymbuck for $7.50 which made my total $56.29 or $3.51 per piece. It wasn't all socks and underwear either. Ethan got two sweaters, one pair of overalls, one short romper, two pairs of pants, three shirts, and a hat and Grace got a dress, two pairs of tights, a hat, hair clips, and a pair of sandals. I'll sell all of it when we're done with it which will make it even cheaper.