At 48, I have a full life. A hectic job. A sweet 13-year-old. A hardworking husband and a rambling old house in Brooklyn. I’ve got PTA group chats and grocery lists and expense reports and electrician bills. What I don’t have a ton of these days is fun.
So when a colleague asked if I wanted to test out some of the playful “childlike” styles currently trending in women’s fashion—think oversize sailor collars, sparkly jelly sandals and evening bags shaped like plush bunnies—I didn’t need to ponder long. Bring it on.
“Kidcore” looks began creeping into women’s closets a couple of seasons ago. First Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” unleashed a torrent of pink shoes, candy-colored bracelet stacks and other doll-like styling flourishes into fashion’s mainstream. Then came the mania for bag-charms and their impish cousin, Labubu, the cult-favorite key-ring figurine. On runways earlier this year, Simone Rocha’s Fall/Winter 2025 collection featured a menagerie of faux-fur rabbits that looked like dead ringers for my son’s old lovey.
Though generally a trend skeptic, even I have fallen for this sartorial nostalgia. Last summer, I suddenly spotted jelly shoes—an icon of my 1980s girlhood—on the feet of stylish women all over the city. When the chic-mom brand Loeffler Randall released a pair of $175 “champagne glitter” jelly fisherman sandals studded with rhinestones, I handed over my credit card quicker than you can say Bananarama.
“In 20 years, we’ve only had one or two other styles sell out that fast—it was insane,” said Jessie Randall, the company’s co-founder and chief creative officer, of the sparkly jellies.
What gives? Randall’s theory: “I always say that I think people are essentially themselves when they’re in kindergarten—and we spend a lot of our lives trying to get back to that awesome person we were before we were self-conscious. Clothes can be a part of that.”
If so, it’s certainly an about-face. “For most of history, kids’ clothes were either a miniature version of adult styles, or something completely different, like a sailor outfit, that adults would never touch,” said fashion historian Ruby Redstone. “So this is a really interesting reversal of the usual trend pathway.” It’s also easy to see infantile fashion as a reaction to the world in turmoil, she added. “I think we’ve all become a little obsessed with nostalgia and that feeling of lost childhood.”
I decided to launch my week of kindergarten chic on a grown-up note: dinner and a movie with my husband. A poplin polka-dot maxi skirt from Katie Kime ($108) swished airily around my ankles as we strolled, keeping me cool despite the sweltering sidewalks. A cherry-red Coach purse shaped like a cartoon star ($350) cheerfully contained my essentials. My husband’s verdict: “It feels a little like I’m dating Minnie Mouse.” Still, a mischievous twinkle in his eye implied this wasn’t an entirely bad thing?
En route to the office the next morning, I paused to take a selfie with a sunflower. Despite a commute snarled by a subway power outage, the day’s outfit put a spring in my step: I’d accessorized a leaf-green sheath with a candy-bracelet Swatch ($70), salmon-pink Melissa jelly sandals ($69), dangly Bea Bongiasca flower hoop earrings ($820) and a jeweled Blobb by Sofia Elias ring ($65) that could have come straight from a gumball machine. I was late for a meeting. Yet the tick of my Swatch felt playful, not panicky. When I finally arrived, a co-worker winkingly appraised my look: “It’s giving Ms. Frizzle.”
Days later, running errands, I donned a duo from London brand Damson Madder that pushed things in more of an “Anne of Green Gables” direction. Bounding down my block in jeans and a crimson sailor top ($115), with my curls tied up in an oversize ribbon bun-wrap ($45), I was grabbed by a neighbor, her mouth agape. “That is my dream outfit from fifth grade,” she gushed. (Apparently I had another Lucy Maud Montgomery fan on my hands.) Unfortunately, while the blouse’s dramatic puff sleeves left my waist looking snatched, every errant breeze made the massive collar flap into my eyes.
Susan Fang’s Air-Whirl Mini Dress (about $1,718) is the kind of powder-blue tulle confection that makes princess-crazed preschoolers squeal—but its sheer construction results in a look that’s decidedly…adult. To avoid arrest for indecent exposure at the farmers market, I layered Fang’s creation over a green-and-white striped tee from Clare V. and a pair of white harem pants. The combo was comfy—and, with a $20 bill tucked into a funny piggy wristlet bag from Susan Alexandra ($58), evoked the unhinged sprezzatura cool of a 3-year-old allowed to dress herself.
I saved the big guns for last. In the August heat, cuddling up to Simone Rocha’s faux-fur Hare Bag ($780) didn’t exactly appeal—and I nearly missed my train trying to extricate my wallet from the fur-tangled zipper. But when I walked into an interior designer’s cocktail party with the cutesy bunny tucked under one arm, I swore I heard gasps. “I wasn’t sure if that was a fresh carcass or a purse—but either way it’s lit,” said a woman in a caftan. An animal-lover approached and expressed concern that I was “manhandling that cat.” Another guest declared it “taxidermy chic.”
I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun.
Styling by Caitie Kelly; Makeup by Rio Kinoshita; Hair by Brionnah Lenay
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