TIMES COLONIST, VICTORIA, B.C.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2010 D1

LIFE
Editor: Bruce MacKenzie > Telephone: 250-380-5346 > E-mail: features@tc.canwest.com ■ ARTS, D5 ■ TV, D7

FASHION STYLE FILES

POSTMEDIA NEWS
Fergie: New fragrance.

The smell
of hip hop
Black Eyed Peas singer
Fergie is teaming up with
Avon Canada to introduce
a new line of sweet-
smelling scents inspired
by Fergie’s self-described
“spontaneous attitude and
belief in herself.”
Outspoken by Fergie is
a blend of bold floral fra-
grances.
“From my music to my
wardrobe, my style is all
about speaking up and
making a statement,” Fer-
gie said in a news release
issued by Avon Canada.
“That’s why my first-
ever fragrance exudes
independence — Outspo-
ADRIAN LAM, TIMES COLONIST ken definitely turns heads,
Six-year-old Lulu Gzowski and her mom Mary Henricksen sample back-to-school fashions at their Fairfield home. but it also lets your true
personality shine
through.”
Who knew a perfume

Shopping with Lulu

could accomplish so much
in a few sprays?
Look for Outspoken by
Fergie this fall for $30
through Avon independent
sales reps, and at avon.ca.

Back-to-school styles through the eyes of a six-year-old
age and growing like weeds,
is they grow out of stuff,
and they become fussy like
the rest of us.”
For Lulu, fashion is still
what she likes or doesn’t
like, what fits and what’s
comfortable. Dressing up is
still part of an imagination
SARAH PETRESCU game, getting ready in the
Ready to Wear morning an act of independ-
spetrescu@tc.canwest.com ence and self-awareness a
new experience.
Her mother is well
recess, and I’d be strangely
jealous when she won an
‘Oscar’ for being the most
stylish kid in class.
“I think it’s ’cause maybe
I like patterns together,”
she says when I ask her
why she was presented with
the gold spray-painted
wooden clothespin stat-
uette. “Other kids got
awards, too.”
My first fashion night-
mare occurred when I was
collection,” Mary says.
She’s on the hunt for a few
key items: Pyjamas, winter
boots, long enough pants
and a nice dress to go see
Cirque du Soleil.
“You can get some great
deals here,” she tells me.
Abra-Kid-Abra sells both
new and consignment kids’
clothing. A woman heaves a
garbage bag of clothes onto
the front counter. Babies
crawl around at will.
Fighting to end
exploitation
bourhood’s upscale kid’s The Body Shop is teaming
boutique, Finn and Izzy at up with ECPAT groups
2259 Oak Bay Ave. Lulu dili- (End Child Prostitution
gently slips on a pair of Pornography and Traffick-
Bogs boots. They’re rubber ing) to help raise aware-
to the ankle with stretchy, ness and funds to fight
waterproof handles. She child exploitation.
gets the larger size so they It’s called the Stop Sex
might fit next year, too. Trafficking of Children
On the walk home, and Young People Cam-
grown-up conversation has paign, and for the Body
taken a backseat to two Shop’s part it will be rais-
green straws, which ing funds by offering a
become walrus teeth, drum- special edition of Soft

L
ulu Gzowski, 6, is
wearing her
favourite skirt — a
leopard-print ker-
chief number that brushes
the ground and flares when
she spins. She also has on a
whimsical black, white and
gold print T-shirt her mom
picked out. Around her
neck are three faded
wooden beads on a piece of
string.
“They’re green,” she
says, tucking her chin to
grab the beads with her
tongue for a nibble. “They
used to be green,” she gig-
gles.
Lulu is about to embark
on a ritual many girls grow
to obsess about by their
tween years: Back-to-school
shopping.
“It’s not something we’ve
really done before. I usually
just buy her stuff and she
wears it,” says Lulu’s mom,
Mary Henricksen, 49, at
their Fairfield apartment.
“But it’s time. The one thing
about buying kids clothes,
especially when they’re this
aware the children’s cloth-
ing industry generates bil-
lions of dollars each year —
about $44.1 billion last year
in the U.S. alone. One of the
fastest growing markets is
the tween industry, target-
ing kids between eight and
12 with new lines by their
celebrity idols like Miley
Cyrus, Madonna’s
13-year-old daughter Lour-
des Leon and the Jonas
brothers.
“My prediction is the
fashion icons of her genera-
tion will be the Jolie-Pitt
kids,” she tells me as we
walk up Fort Street to Oak
Bay Village. “I just hate
how so much of the clothing
for girls is either pink or
purple and has silly slogans
on it.”
If I were in Grade 1 at
École Margaret Jenkins
School, Lulu and I would
definitely be friends. We’d
read every book in the How
to Train Your Dragon series,
run really fast around the
building and play our moth-
ers’ clapping games at
six years old. It was 1984.
High-collared shirts,
sweater vests and roller-
skates were in style. My
28-year-old mother found a
fabulous new hairdresser at
the Prince George Wood-
ward’s department store
salon and wanted to treat
me to a new back-to-school
’do.
My long golden ringlets
were hacked to the floor,
sheared into a feathered
mullet — perhaps the first
in town. I went from Annie
adorable to Pat Benatar
spooky and cried for days.
Fashion maverick be
damned, I wanted to be
myself again. I’d never let
anyone pick out a hair style
or outfit for me again.
Our first stop is Abra-
Kid-Abra clothing store at
2024 Oak Bay Ave. Mary
has to open the child-proof
gate at the front door for
me. Lulu bolts in, picking
out a mom-approved elec-
tric blue hoodie made of
some fuzzy, soft material.
“We’ll just add it to the
As Mary sifts through
racks of used clothing for
Lulu to consider, something
interesting happens.
“What about this?” Mary
says holding up a sage
green T-shirt.
Shoulder shrug.
“Or this one?” she says
holding a bold, olive-
coloured one that would
match Lulu’s blue-green
eyes, tanned skin and
flaxen hair perfectly.
Enthusiastic head nod.
“Oh, this is cute,” Mary
gushes over a simple cotton
blouse with embroidered
flowers.
Lulu’s eyes widen in a
terrified grimace.
“I knew it,” Mary says.
“She’s not a fan of ....”
“The minimalist peasant
look?” I finish.
Yes, Lulu is too young to
adhere to, or even notice,
pressures of the fashion
industry. But she’s got her
own style.
We cool off with iced cof-
fees and juice at Starbucks
on our way to the neigh-
sticks and a clarinet. Lulu Hands Kind Heart Hand
perks up when we talk Cream, proceeds of which
about things she’s into, like go to ECPAT.
that zombie game on the Look for New Soft
iPad at London Drugs, the Hands Kind Heart Hand
BBC kids website and Wipe- Cream (50 mL), $7 at The
out — a reality TV show Body Shop. About $5 from
about adults trying not to every purchase is donated
wipe out on an obstacle to ECPAT-Beyond Borders
course. She tells me her in Canada.
favourite song is K’Naan’s
Waving Flag, the World Cup
soccer anthem the Cana- Ivy league style
dian hip-hop artist.
We pass a furniture store Old Navy has a variety of
about to close and Lulu back to school, work and
insists I try out a Fat Boy — play knits for fall.
a gigantic stuffed pillow The three looks to
that doubles as a chair or choose from include:
bed. Lulu sleeps on one at Capes and Cocoons —
her mom’s place since her think wraps and belted
parents separated a few cardigans; Vintage Preppy
months ago. — tailored knits such as
“We can have a nap on it argyle cardigans; and
when we get home,” she Edgy Chic — a mix full of
says. “Shopping is so tir- printed fringe scarves
ing.” matched with a fitted
spetrescu@tc.canwest.com leather jackets, leggings
and boots.
Next Week: Meet the Island Look for Old Navy’s fall
mompreneurs behind unique kids 2010 knits at Old Navy
clothing lines, stores and the stores.
Vancouver Island Baby Fair. — Postmedia News

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