LIFESTYLE
Young Luxe
Big brands are pandering to parents’ vanity and putting children too in luxury’s lap
MEGHANA BIWALKAR
04 Apr 2008
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Brand-Precocious: Children track fashion
trends and want branded luxury their
parents enjoy |
“Love don’t cost a thing,” croons latin-american singer Jennifer Lopez. But she acts otherwise. She has reportedly hired a masseuse and a colour therapist for her new-born twins. If you thought that was over the top, here is more. Lopez is said to have ordered two Shetland ponies along with diamond-encrusted rattles and designer babygros. Before you dismiss it as celebrity eccentricity, here’s a thought. If you still dress up your kid in pink and character dresses, such as those of Barbie or Superman, forgive your child for considering you old-fashioned, or even stingy.
With brands such as Gucci, French Connection, Burberry and Lacoste presenting their kidwear and accessories in India, luxury-loving parents are giving their children the same brand advantage that they allow themselves.
“Today’s kids are more fashion conscious than their adult counterparts,” says Bhavani Sharma, a Mumbai-based fashion consultant. “They know who the designers are, and which model is sporting what styles and cuts on the ramp.” Adds the India spokesperson for FCUK, “Designer brands are creating things for kids that mimic grown-ups’ edginess in fashion.”
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Designer Booties: Children have the best of
the world at their feet as brands vie to woo
them |
So, even before your child can spell ‘luxury’, you can put her feet in Gucci booties and have her smelling of Burberry perfume. The designers also work on packaging to attract parents and children. For instance, Burberry Baby Touch range of perfume, shampoos and lotions come in gentle shades of ivory, lilac and baby blue and are packaged in cute, cuddly bottles.
The market is not just buzzing with designer clothes or accessories. Spas are also trying to cater to children. Besides offering healthcare routines to children who accompany their parents on spa visits, many spas have homed in on the birthday treat market. Birthday parties are not complete without the honorary visit to a spa. Many spas even help organise birthday parties complete with services such as chocolate manicures and pedicures, ice cream bath fizz, shower sherbet scrub, foot masks and body icing.
Some salons claim that they encourage children to be creative. At Water Melon Kids Salon in Mumbai, for example, children are encouraged to design their own hair with suggestions on hair sprays and colours. “The hair stylist listens patiently to kids’ ideas,” says an attendant at the salon. “This gives the kids an opportunity to play with their own look and feel good.” In addition, such salons aim to charm kids by providing them vibrant-coloured cars or trucks as seats, and mini TV sets at each table, besides a playzone and mini theatres.
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Tender Desires: Gucci has an extensive
line of kid goodies |
If fitness is becoming a part of parents’ lifestyle, children are not far behind. Fitness gurus and kindergartens are joining hands to launch kids’ gyms.
For instance, fitness expert Leena Mogre has partnered with a playschool chain to start a fitness centre in Mumbai for children between four and 11 years. She will open 11 more such centres across India. These gyms have special fitness equipment that are suitable for children. The treadmills, elliptical trainers and rowing machines are all manual and don’t use electricity.
Lifestyle consumption has become a bridge between childhood and adulthood. With children imitating parents, and fashion models and parents trying to model their children in their self-image, this new consumer of uber luxe is certainly leaving behind what was once termed ‘childhood innocence’.
(Businessworld issue 8 - 14 April 2008) |
Sensex rises 61 points in opening trade 
