I don't know how you see it, but I think that shopping for the baby is probably one of the most exiting activities for moms - (and some dads) - to-be. Especially when it comes to buying baby clothing. Remember that I mentioned in past posts that I was rather skeptical about buying baby clothing in Germany? Well, this post is all about it and how we solved the case.
Fashionable origins...
As I’ve told before, I love clothes, so much, that sometimes I still find myself wondering why I opted for political science instead of a fashion related study. Maybe because I wanted to do something good for my country and the world rather than entering a totally banal world full of beauty?!
As a Latin American woman and, more specifically, as a woman coming from the Colombian Caribbean, despite some exceptions that make the rule, I grew up learning that your personal aspect, including the harmony and good taste for clothes is almost as important as having food every day on your table. I know it may sound quite superficial but developing a good sense of style may help you get a job and respect as a serious person. And it refers not only to what you wear. It is actually the whole package. It is about developing a good taste by getting to know your actual self and your body, thus creating a style that really suits you, it is dressing for success, not for causing an eye disease!
I remember my mom telling me once when I still was in school and had braces in my mouth, that the latter were only for good since I could not afford to have bad teeth if I was aiming to be a public person after university. Or the first day of my high school certificate examination when, in her eyes, the clothes I was wearing and what I was reflecting with them had a direct impact on my exam performance (Please don’t get her wrong. She is the best, most human, loving person/mom and a very popular dermatologist in our city). The love for fashion and good taste applies for women as well as for men, and all that from an early age. People in my city and in my region have a very good sense of style and esthetics. That’s for sure. Everything matches, and most of the population does its best to look immaculate and flawless either if you are going to school, to work or to a party! Of course, the negative part is when many of them just exaggerate and when it rather becomes about pretending or showing off. That, I don’t like. As well as I don’t like when people become victims of the latest trends. But hey, at the end, it also happens in Berlin (you can see it especially during and around the Fashion Week). I’m glad I’ve learn to take some distance from it and having an own style, one that suits me.
So, for us buying clothes for the baby is a huge thing. So huge, that there is even an expression for it, the “ajuar de bebe”, that is the “layette”. I remember my grandma and my aunts not only buying but also sewing very delicate pieces for the new member of the family and its mommy. Before becoming pregnant, I had been a couple of times on vacation in Spain where I always found many shops with the most beautiful baby clothing I have ever seen and I found myself wishing to be able to do some shopping there anytime. Then, a few months before becoming pregnant, I started to prepare by watching some blogs on YouTube and was amazed by the many beautiful and at the same time cool and practical baby clothing you can find in the United States and the United Kingdom. Again, I found myself wishing to be able to purchase some of them one day.
...and the big dilemma
And then, I finally got pregnant. One of my worries literally was were to buy nice baby clothes because I happened to be pregnant IN GERMANY! The thing is, people in this country are excellent in many areas of knowledge but the concepts of fashion, clothing, esthetics and style do not belong to their proficiencies. As a very good German friend of mine told me once, Germans think in such a practical way, that for them clothes only fulfill their need to cover their bodies, period. At this stage I have to say that this much loved friend of mine is the only person I’ve met here (apart from Hubs who also learned a lot from me) with very good taste. She understands my feelings and frustrations in this scenario. I mean, when walking by the streets in the big cities you can see some exceptions but the truth is that I found myself quite often wishing for more harmony for the sake of my eyes.
And this also applies for baby and children clothing. I feel so happy when I see a kid with harmonizing and nice clothes because it is so rare! It is as if the general idea would be like “kids don’t care or are not aware of what clothes mean or what they wear, they are getting dirty and filthy anyway and they just want to be children and feel free to do whatever they want. Yes, I agree, they just should be children. But what is wrong about nice looking clothes for children?
It is so difficult to find beautiful or at least affordable nice clothes! Because, that is the other thing: baby clothes must contain the most organic and sustainable materials which make the pieces more expensive. And, don’t get me wrong, I’m all in for the best quality for my children as well as for the environmental salvation of the planet. But the truth is that the pieces made of organic materials, “made in Germany” have weird prints and cuts, anything but appealing to the eye and I think that’s such a pity because there is nothing cuter or more beautiful than good looking babies/children! To their defense I have also to say, that, in the last years, they have been improving and there are some cool brands. But seriously, if it is all about thinking practically and pragmatically, buying too expensive clothes for children that are going to be worn for one or two months in their lives is not really worth it, isn’t it? And just to be clear, I’m generally far away from being tight-fisted.
Our solution... Or should I say our salvation?
So, when the time to start preparing for the birth was approaching we started looking for baby gear in the few popular and affordable shops in Berlin. We were already terrified when we visited Baby Balz. My husband and I soon realized that we were definitely not going to purchase many clothes for the baby in Berlin and when it came to the question about the presents for the baby we told everyone not to worry about buying clothes. The only two shops that came into question were Zara and H&M for cool outfits because they really have nice stuff at reasonable prices, and I also took the advice of a very good Venezuelan friend of mine about buying basic onesies at C&A which turned out to be of good quality. But we still wanted to get other cool, delicate and unique pieces since when buying the mentioned brands, you risk meeting many people wearing the same. Many times, I reminded my husband about the awesome shops in Spain. And therefore, this was one of the reasons we decided to visit Barcelona for our babymoon.
Although I kept it simple and planned only two days for shopping in Barcelona in order not to annoy Hubs, both of us did have great fun looking for outfits for the baby. At the end, although we manage to get some beautiful pieces, we didn’t find so many of those beautiful Spanish shops for children as in Madrid or Sevilla, maybe because we didn’t know the city very well. But you should have seen Hubs flipping out about the cool clothes in Zara, different from those in the Berlin stores! And he did pick very nice things. I was very proud.
But the bulk of clothes and cutest things came from Colombia and the US. We were lucky that my mother was going to attend a dermatology congress in the US at the same time we would be in Spain. She was dying for buying things for the baby. And, since I trust her good taste blindly, we agreed that she would do some shopping there, too. She was ecstatic and spend a whole day looking for bodies, pajamas, etc. But she didn’t know limits! Back in Colombia she ordered some ensembles of the finest baby shirts, pajamas, bibs and “puke clothes” with crochet and lace, very much the Spanish way, some of them also with the baby’s monograms! Also one of my brothers (the one who announced becoming an uncle on Twitter), also contributed with the coolest Nike onesies because his nephew had to be cool and love sports, just as his uncle. And finally, when my parents came for the baby’s birth, they surprised us with lots of gifts from relatives and family friends that were very nice in its majority. So, when it came to (nice) clothes when Nico was born, we were covered for the first six months and found myself two years later still unpacking a couple of pieces.
Fashionable baby
All these years, we have sticked to the same strategy: H&M, Zara and clothes from the US and Colombia every time we are there or my mom and relatives go to the US on vacation or for work. I like to play dolls with my son and my husband does it as well, like when he was once in London for work and came back with chucks and some pieces from GAP for his beloved son. It is so much fun and we even feel kind of proud when our kids look good, cool and at the same time so cute in their clothes. We joke about them being little hipsters, even though we don’t ride that wave at all. No matter where we go, people notice that, too. Our little guys do not go unnoticed. And they seem to like clothes, as well, no kidding.
The sustainability question
Already since my first pregnancy, I have been thinking on how to be good to the environment and help the planet. I know, buying clothes in fast fashion stores is actually a big contradiction to those thoughts. But as I already said above, it is also a budgetary question. Of course I could have gone to a second hand store but I wished to get our own clothes for the baby, do you know what I mean? When I buy clothes for the kids, especially for my older one, I always kept in mind that they would definitely be used by a silbling and this is what we have been doing with our younger one, even though the first is a summer and the second a winter baby. My younger one has also become new clothes, mostly from my family and when we see that some things are still needed, avobe all in the cold season, bearing in mind that the older one is way toller than his brother.
Meanwhile, I have a bunch of clothes that my younger son already outgrew. While I want to preserve some pieces just because their are beautiful and have the little wish that one day my grandchildren or maybe my nephews could wear them, I would like to pass many others to moms and dads who would like to get some preloved pieces, instead of throwing them in containers, especially since they all are in a very good shape as a result of my love for clothing. Do you guys have any ideas of how to do it. Or would you like me to do some kind of online shop or flash sale on instagram or facebook? If you are insterested you can also let me know by email if you would like to see and by some.
Spoiler alert
In the next posts, I'll be writing more about baby gear and what is truly helpful and what is not and what you will need for the the hospital bag and the first weeks with the baby. So stay tuned!
Tell me how you think about baby clothing. Is it a big deal in your case or are you rather laid down? How did you do it?