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"Self-esteem issues, fitting-in issues -- all of
the issues that were traditionally teen issues --
have moved up," says Nancy Dennis, brand manager
for Zellers. "In some ways, tweens are still kids,
but they're very sophisticated."
Dennis knows the Canadian
tween market as well as anyone. In 1997, she opened
Chickaboom! in Toronto, the first retail store in
the country to cater exclusively to
tweens.
"Tweens are teenage
wannabes," she says, "but it isn't about looking
provocative, it's about being stylish and
fashionable. They have an opinion at that
age."
In the last five years, many
large retailers, including Old Navy, La Senza and
Le Ch?teau, have shifted their sights to tap into
this lucrative market. Eventually, says Dennis, the
market became so desirable that Chickaboom! could
no longer compete and had to shut its
doors.
According to the eighth
annual YTV Tween Report, a national survey that
tracks the lifestyles, attitudes and opinions of
the 9-14 demographic, this fall parents of tweens
will spend an anticipated $805-million (or $320 per
child) on back-to-school clothing. But it's not the
parents who will make the purchasing decisions.
Tweens themselves are the primary decision-makers.
In fact, 28% will buy their own clothing with money
given to them by their parents.
YTV's coolhunters, trained to
spot playground fashion trends, say this fall
tweens will seek to recreate looks from the decade
in which more fashion crimes were committed per
capita than in any other: the '80s.
"One trend that we see in the
fall is a lot of the preppy look, like tweeds,
argyles and plaids," says Laura Baehr, director of
communications for Corus Entertainment, YTV's
parent company. "Rugby shirts and polo shirts are
also coming back in."
The trend is apparent in Old
Navy's "Rugby Bunch" ad campaign. Also, says Baehr,
influential young celebrities like Natalie Portman
and Tara Reid have been spotted everywhere wearing
polo shirts. Also very popular with tween girls
this fall is corduroy and denim everything: pants,
bags, notebooks, skirts and jackets.
"There's a lot of customized
denim," says Baehr. "There are so many different
styles of jeans out, like the cross-hatched jeans
meant to look worn, that no two jeans look exactly
alike any more."
Girls are personalizing their
denim by adding crystals, letters, sparkles and
laces. "It's a really fine line," says Baehr,
"between being unique and creative, but not
standing out too much."
Tweens are particularly
influenced by celebrity fashion. And with an
unprecedented number of tween magazines (like Teen
People, Cosmo Girl and Elle Girl) to inform them
and tween stores to outfit them, more than ever
they have the ability to imitate the looks of
Britney Spears and Sarah Michelle
Gellar.
Shirts with billowy sleeves,
popularized by Gwyneth Paltrow among others, are
particularly popular. The peasant shirt, ubiquitous
this spring in women's clothing stores, has now
reached the tween market. Avril Lavigne has brought
back the girls-in-neckties look. And everyone from
Kate Hudson and Cameron Diaz to J. Lo has been
spotted in terrycloth and velveteen sweatsuits by
Juicy Couture.
"By the time [a girl
is] nine or 10," says Dennis, "it is very
difficult to shop without them; they have strong
opinions. The parent is important, but they really
come along to pay."
Her own 11-year-old daughter,
Lindsay, is exceptionally knowledgeable about
fashion. Her favourite designers, many of them
unavailable in Canada, include Mossimo, Abercrombie
& Fitch and a line called Exhilaration,
available at Target (which she pronounces
"TargÈ").
Lindsay says she and her mom
have a system when they go shopping: "I pick out a
whole bunch of stuff and she approves of it and
says, 'OK, that's cool,' or 'No, not that.' "
Luckily, she says, they have the same taste in
clothes.
Exactly as the YTV
coolhunters predicted, Lindsay confirmed that
corduroy, jeans, peasant shirts and the preppy look
are very in this fall.
What about the designer
sweatsuits? "Yes, I'm wearing Juicy Couture
sweatpants right now," she says enthusiastically.
"It says 'Juicy' on my bum in velvet."
© Copyright 2002
National Post
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