In a previous life I was lucky enough to spend my days designing childrens fancy dress clothes – what an amazing job that was! When I started along that career path I was yet to have my two daughters and it wasn’t until I did, that I finally found the true joy in this role and nothing has given me greater pleasure than to see them dressing up in the outfits I created and to really understand what it adds to creative play for children.
It is so important for children to step away from the myriad of screens that surround them these days and to enter a world of imagination – creative role play is vital to a childs development, helping them to understand who they are and what they want to be, by dressing up and acting out roles they can start to make sense of the world around them and develop important relationship skills.
Children will make anything they can find into an amazing outfit using their imagination, but it’s also great to help them along the way a little, so I have picked out some of my current favourite costumes, clothes and accessories based around a ‘Wild Child’ theme….
More like costume couture than dressing up clothes Recoma Costume make the most exquisite costumes which also make fabulous special occasion or party dresses – they would be just amazing for a wedding! Check out the website at www.recomacostume.co.uk for more info.
Wild Things – Funky Little Dresses are a great company which make (as the name suggests) the most amazing dresses for girls, with an animal theme but also lots of other funky designs, they also make dungarees and playsuits for boys and girls and amazing accessories such as capes and hats, above are a selection ( Easter Bunny Hat £22.00, Mouse Playsuit £40.00, Shark Dungarees £35.20, Teddy Bear Cape £55.00) available at www.notonthehighstreet.com and www.etsy.com
A little less obvious, but still lots of fun are these T-shirts from Beauty and Baby, these are really lovely unisex t-shirts perfect for different ages (they go from ages 0-6,) these can be teamed with a tutu skirt, ears or a tail if they feel like dressing up or look great with normal clothes if not! Priced at £12.00 buy online at www.beautyandbaby.co.uk
Super funky are these leggings from LaLoi – again these are a great unisex item that can be worn by girls or boys and be worn as fancy dress or just as a pair of leggings! Pictured above are the Leopard, Python and Glam Rock (fur print) styles and they can be purchased from www.laloi.co.uk for £39.00 each.
Finally – I totally love these hairbands from Woodstock London – they are just gorgeous and will add a bit of fantasy to any outfit! ( Gold Sparkly Rabbit Ear Headband £27.00, Cat Ear Headband Aqua Tatum £25.00, Rabbit Ear Headband Betsy Ann Pink £25.00, Cat Ear Headband Coral Spot £25.00 all available at www.woodstocklondon.com.)
Everything I have featured today is Designed and Made in Britain.
Images courtesy of:
