Mini-Fashonistas with Attitude

Call me old-fashioned, or even an old fart, but I thought that parents were to parent. I vividly remember asking my parents to buy me a particular brand of jeans in 7th grade, and their reply was "No", quickly followed with "Get a job."

How does a child now tell the parent what they will or won't wear? (In my house, you'd have gone naked.)When you get to the point of calling your child "a pushy broad" over their clothing choices, it's not longer time to put your foot down, but rather up their...

POOR Barbie! Her pneumatic contours and sparkly wardrobe have lost their charm for the average 8-year-old, the attractions of her doll-size jeans and shrunken tanks paling alongside the real thing. Premium jeans, for instance, an item coveted by Maisy Gellert, a third grader living in Westchester County, N.Y. “I’m very particular,” Maisy said. “Sevens are the only jeans I actually wear.”

CLOTHES MAKE THE GIRL Carly Gulotta, 4, and some of her outfits (and accessories) at home in New York. Marketers are aiming adults styles at young audiences.

While some parents abet their children’s rabid consumerism, others struggle to curb it, even as they question whether its origins are in the home or a pop culture that reveres labels and brands. “To say my daughter’s interest in shopping is intense is an understatement,” said Wendy Gellert, the mother of Maisy. “All this girl wants to do is shop. I find myself saying ‘No’ a lot.”

“We’re living in a child-obsessed culture,” said Vanessa Boz of Kidding Consultants, a firm with children’s-wear clients. Parents, she added, don’t always put their foot down. “Some just want to make their children happy.”

4-year-old Carly Gulotta gets a pedicure at the Paul Labrecque salon in New York, where some adults are taking their children.

Hillary Offenberg, on the other hand, imposes few rules and is more amused than concerned about her daughter’s precociousness. Four-year-old Carly Gulotta “has a mind of her own,” said Ms. Offenberg, a wholesale florist in New York. Not without a touch of pride, she added: “My daughter loves everything that is in fashion right now, like wearing dresses as little smock tops over pants, or mixing polka dots and plaids. “You pick your battles,” Ms. Offenberg said, heaving an indulgent sigh. “Carly is a pushy broad.”