Stylish Little Men: Zara

After a conversation with my husband's cousin last night, I feel even more strongly that this post series has been a good idea. I know that not every store has such a striking (and sexist) imbalance of clothing options as I always tend to see in places like Sainsbury's and Tesco, but it's been a good thought exercise to really look into what's available out there for dressing your little boy. And speaking of dressing your little boy, I had quite a lot of fun with E when we went to church & the in-laws' yesterday. Check out my little English country gentleman:

  Hat: Old Navy, scarf: Tie Rack, jacket: Bon Bleu Baby, trousers: M&S, shoes: Clarks.

And now that my little fashion model has had his moment, it's on to this week's collection of clothes.

Although I've never been very keen on it for myself, Zara has some fantastic clothes in their boys' department. From what I can tell, it's all about the little details in this collection. A denim pocket on a white t-shirt, a Mao collar on an Oxford shirt, camouflage lining on a pair of jeans. And so far I'm loving every minute of it.

I'll grant, for those of us on tighter budgets, it's not the most thrifty of stores, but the pieces are cute, and they're by no means prohibitively expensive. From what I've seen, it's really about the middle of the range as far as price is concerned. And the collection only adds more cute pieces as you go up the age groups. Witness this adorable waistcoat for ages 2-14:

via, Zara

And now, let's see what the rest of the collection has to offer:

1) I love this outfit: the Mao collar on the Oxford shirt, the braces with the khakis, the vaguely utilitarian olive green coat. While the braces wouldn't be as interchangeable as some others I've seen, they'd still help keep trousers from slipping down, especially if you cloth diaper. And if you wanted to hold a pacifier, teething ring, or a small muslin in the pockets of that jacket, they'd be well-suited to the task.

2) The denim (probably chambray) collar and pocket on this t-shirt are an example of really nice details. And the herringbone trousers set it off quite well.

3) Luckily, over-the-head shirts get easier as your baby gets older. And that blue gillet would be nice for cold days at the playground before it's glove-wearing weather. To tie it all together, the camo turn-ups on those jeans are a nice touch.

4) I couldn't not include this gorgeous striped rugby shirt. It's another nice example of how you can downsize adult clothing for a kid without it looking out of place. Plus: who doesn't look good in a rugby shirt?

So there you are: another store that can manage a decent spread of nicely-articulated outfits for little boys. It's nice to know that you can easily dress your son/nephew/godson in style once you know where to look.