How often have you watched Suri Cruise (daughter of actor Tom Cruise) looking pretty in a pair of Jimmy Choo mini heels and designer clothes and wanted to own a pair? Well, maybe not such high end brands and labels but designers are making sure that they invest a part of their designs on kids as well.

Designer’s perspective

According to Sagarika Mittal Goyal, owner of Coochhie Coo, there is nothing very exclusive about fashion for kids because most designs tend to be borrowed from adult fashion. “In terms of colours and sensibility, inspiration is largely taken from adult fashion but there are certain restrictions, too. You have to be very careful of the embroidery and the embellishments that you are using. Designers cannot afford to get too experimentative on a kids line and perhaps that’s why there are so few designers working with fashion for kids. There are certain prototype like detailing and prints which you cannot incorporate in such a small frame,” she pointed out.Read more at:prom dresses for women

Designer Siddharth Tytler told us that they do not exclusively design for kids but the designs that they make for fashion weeks automatically turn to inspiration for their kids collection. “But we make it child friendly so that they do not feel uncomfortable in the material or the embellishments,” he said.

There is also the fact that a child very quickly overgrows their size and any designer wear for them becomes a one or two time wear. “That is another reason why there are less designers for kids,” Goyal added.

market expansion

The industry is expanding as a whole and kids fashion is a balloon part of it. The customers, according to designer Pragya Sharma, are becoming very aware and conscious of how to dress themselves and also their little ones. However, she does admit that even those are a handful. “I have a niche clientele who are interested in good quality dresses for their kids. As compared to buyers in India, my foreign clients are ready to invest a lot on what their kids are wearing,” she said and echoed what Goyal said about kids growing out their clothes. “The dresses end up becoming a limited wear and, therefore, parents are not willing to spend big bucks on them,” she pointed out.

Designer Sheena Jain said that the expansion is also due to the big brands that are coming into the market. “People nowadays can easily shop online so it is obvious that the market is expanding even for kid's fashion,” she said.

According to Goyal, digital and social media play an important part in the rising demand and awareness of kid's fashion. “Children have more access to social media more than ever and there they see kids of celebrities in chic and cool outfits and it is natural for them to want to have them,” she said.

Tytler, too, believes that the market is expanding at a very rapid rate because kids are becoming very conscious of what they want to wear and how they want to wear it. “By the time a kid is seven-years-old, he or she develops their own sense of style and opinion, and it is amazing to see this kind of a change in kids these days,” he said.

Sneha Mehta, owner of Kukoon, gave us an entire new side of the picture. “The market for kids fashion has not arrived yet,” she said, “dressing kids is tricky because there are many aspects like fabric and embellishments that you have to keep in mind.”

Goyal gave us market figures and said, “About 20-30 per cent of sales have increased. But very few Indian clients are ready to invest that much on kids fashion and I believe that majority will never be ready, psychologically because there are limited occasions where kids can wear them as most of the time they keep skipping in and out of tuitions.”

Specially for you

Most of the designers we spoke to design for girls, with the exception of Tytler (who also designs for girls). According to him boys tend to have more fun than girls. He pointed out, “It is fun to design for them, they like it cool and funky.” Mehta, like all other designers we spoke to, told us that she designs only for girls because they are delicate and it is a delight to see then in cute designs. “We mostly design capes and jackets and there are so many cuts and designs that you can play with. Moreover, it is easy to dress up a child in layers. Plus, with a jacket or cape you can play with pictures of bugs, minion bananas and cartoon characters to give an innocent touch,” she said. Tytler’s collection, available at exclusively.com, ranges from Rs 7,500 for a kurta to Rs 4,000 for a full lehenga. Mehta’s collection, ranges from Rs 3,500 to 8,000.

While Sharma, Mehta and Goyal specialise in western designs, Tytler takes interest in ethnic wear. “Kids just look so adorable in them,” he said. Mehta’s forte is western dresses, cocktail gowns and semi formal clothes. “I pan out one element of the dress to make it stand out. I experiment with fabrics and colour and subtle details,” said the designer who designs matching outfits for mother-daughter duos

The designers are experimenting with fabrics like wool, raw silk, cashmere, thick cotton and velvet. “These fabrics are generally skin friendly and comfortable to wear,” said Mehta. We found out that Jain has designed shrugs, too.

The future

Karina Rajpal, joint managing director, Kidology said that the kid’s fashion market has great potential for growth. She said, “It is a Rs 3,000 crore market and it is going to grow bigger because people now have higher disposable income which they can spend,” she said.

Giving us an overview Sonali Manilal, marketing head of DLF Promenade said, “There are stores which are opening in India and we have UCB kids, Tommy kids, GAP and also the Indian designers who are designing dresses for kids. I think the trend of kids fashion is going to grow. There are several international brands which are going to come to India in a couple of years. So, I think the future is bright and prospective.”

With designers making a collective effort to offer the little ones with designer clothes, we will have to say that the fashion industry for kids is already on a roll.-See more:http://www.marieprom.co.uk/cheap-prom-dresses