No-one can do 'pretty' like little girls. It seems there's an in-built gene for pastels, flowers, frills and flounces.
 And the simple shape and construction of many of the current pretty little dresses on offer are not dissimilar to those sketched by Mabel Lucie Atwell in the 1920s. Time has changed little. Pretty materials are the traditional fabrics of childhood; the ginghams, the cotton lawns, the Aertex in pastel colours and the broderie anglaise. As for pattern, there'll always be florals but there'll also be even more home spun imagery, like sweethearts, spots and candy stripes and `nursery' prints. There's always been an anti-pretty sector who've discarded and disbanded anything vaguely feminine in favour of more boyish, commando styles emblazoned with inappropriate adult logos, and others who prefer full-on designer ranges. But what's wrong with simple and pretty? Even if an eventual inner tomboy emerges, pretty should always have a space in the smallest of wardrobes for girly, quiet times of the day. And mums will surely be grateful for that!
 Childrenswear has moved on in leaps and bounds in recent history. Go back a couple of generations and children's clothing was only purchased once for the first child, and worn by others in the family as they grew up. To have something new, and for that matter bought rather than made, was a fairly big event. How things have changed. In today's throwaway culture, the supermarkets are the outright winners emerging in children's clothing. The very positioning of them within giant grocery stores make the purchasing of it feel almost obligatory. It's cheap, it's cheerful, it's quickly worn out and grown out of, it's throwaway. A recent industry analyst report shows that supermarket children's clothing sales have risen by 38pc to £554m worth of business over the past three years. The main contenders, George at Asda and Tesco, when viewed in overall market shares, are still rated a little behind market leader Next, but well ahead of M&S, with others such as Bhs, Matalan, Primark and Gap, catching up. Childrenswear doesn't last long. It's grown out of quickly and is often destroyed by the rough and tumble of childhood, so it's got to be cheap and hardworking. That's a pretty big demand, and the supermarkets are in the best position to answer the call because of their fast turnarounds. They'll get better manufacturing deals than smaller, specialist manufacturers. But price isn't always the issue. As with all things, a higher price ticket might be attached to an over complicated, overworked, over embellished, ugly garment where most of the mark-up has gone on the decoration. At least with the simple, pretty styles, you can see it's the quality of fabric that's being paid for, which will look nicer for longer, and may even fit a little sister later down the line. Simple quality ages less and might never need to be discarded. | 
Fashion
Gardening