My kids' clothes

My MIL has made comments to me on several occasions about how well dressed our kids are. Before you jump out of your seat thinking how thoughtful this comment is, it's more along the lines of "Your kids are well dressed, too well dressed for your salaries as teachers living in Paris, the most expensive city in France." Of course their aunts, uncles and grandmas all provide the most adorable ensembles for their wardrobes, but not too long ago, I let my MIL in on my own secret to well-dressed success: brocantes.

Brocante is the French equivalent for garage sale, only instead of going to someone's garage, you go to a village where the streets are blocked off and people set up tables and bring their stuff, so instead of one garage, you have literally hundreds of garages of stuff all in one place. Now, I know that when I was a kid, getting your clothes at a garage sale was considered kind of white trash. I hated hand me downs just because the popular kids were wearing brand new Guess? jeans and I wanted to be like them.
I won't get into the differences between the cookie-cutter US way of living and the more traditional French way of living, but I will say that I am happy to live in a country where popularity doesn't exist and where it's culturally acceptable to try and find ways to reuse and cut corners (of course cookie cutter lifestyles do exist, but on a smaller scale and I feel that it's generally acceptable to say 'Oh, I do this and this and this to be frugal' whereas in the US, it's almost ridiculed to even be labeled frugal in certain milieus because spending is so rampant and so easily accessible) Anyway, all of this to say that I never really considered garage sales as a place to shop for children's clothing because up until I had Gab, this was not part of my culture and heritage. That was until E's cousin brought home a Baby Dior outfit for Gab that she had gotten for a euro at one of these street sales. Not that I care about Baby Dior, but an adorable outfit for a euro? Show me the way!

Since then, I've been frequenting brocantes every fall and spring, when they usually take place. I make a list of things the kids need for the next season to come and find everything I need (and even things I don't need!) My MIL said to me "Well, if you aren't picky, this is a wonderful option" and I had to correct her and say that on the contrary, you can be as picky as you want because there is so much choice. I am fairly picky with what the kids wear and have always found bags full of stuff with no problems. Louise's pink dress for the summer weddings was worn once and I got it for 5 dollars from a woman who had twin daughters and the daughters wore the dresses to her brother's wedding. That's another thing, it's a very interesting way to talk to people and to go into more depth with those selling you the clothes than you would a random salesperson in a store.

Anyway, I've always loved clothes thanks to my grandmother who was always very meticulous with how she dressed. When she was sick last summer, my mom showed her a picture of Louise, and she said "Andie sure knows how to dress that girl"- the dress was from a brocante. I'm not saying I know how to dress myself or dress my kids but a way I found to love clothes on our teacher's salaries is to buy their clothes at street sales. And, if you are coming to France for a weekend, instead of going to les grands magasins, let's go brocante hopping!

Comments

[Tara]

Sounds like a ton 'o fun to me! I pride myself on finding bargains and have started to run into a problem finding clothes to fit. American clothes have changed sizes. What was once a 3 or 4 is now a 00. About the only places I can shop now are Banana Republic, GAP and American Eagle. I always hit the sales. I would love to have a brocante here.

I remember my Guess? jeans. Mom made me use my allowance money and ironically they were almost the only brand that fit me :)

[Alice]

Oh Andie, will you take me along to a couple of brocantes after the baby arrives?! I could totally use some tips like this!

[andie]

Alice, let's go! I am up for a brocante any day and you can find so many good bargains there for baby stuff.