Also this issue:

The Style Issue
Philly Sole

A New Sensation
This just in: Stylish shoes don’t (always) have to hurt.
-Helen i-lin Hwang

Good Moves
Get in shape for spring and summer shoes.
-Debra Auspitz

Plat Fall
One writer’s tale of high-heeled woe.
-Trish Boppert

Foot for Thought
-Meredith Broussard

Henri David
-D.A

Martha Chamberlain
-Lori Hill

Mason Warner
-Debra Auspitz

April 17-23, 2003

cover story

Too Pretty, Baby?

Kids’ shoes are taking a sexy turn, and the results can be disturbing.

by Trish Boppert

Forget just having fun. Girls as young as 7, 8 and 9 just wanna teeter around on the same chunky platforms, flirty slides and strappy sandals that the grownup girls are wearing, and shoe manufacturers (like Skechers, Candie’s, Mootsie Tootsie, Soda and Mia) know it. Styles marketed to the kiddie set include open-toed platforms, black leather boots, "glass"-heeled dress sandals and colorful wedge slides designed to leave your mother’s saddle shoes in the schoolyard dust.

Take the Skechers Sandal with red denim upper, adjustable buckle strap and 2.5-inch heel. Available online through J.C. Penney's website, they come in size 1. Though they bring Daisies (as in Mae and Duke) to mind, they're designed for little girls.

"It's been that way for a couple of years now. Girls' shoes definitely reflect the clunky platforms and the heels that women are wearing, and these are the shoes that the 8- and 9-year-olds want to wear," says Peter Berman, owner of the Children's Boutique in Center City.

What's driving the trend toward high-stepping, ankle-strap sandals and away from Mary Janes?" The shoe companies need a change -- they can't keep selling the same shoe year after year," says Steve Rudolf, assistant manager of City Shoes on South Street. "Some parents are comfortable buying these kinds of shoes," he adds, "while others are not."

Like Berman, Rudolf says he carries a wide range of styles to meet all parental tastes. They're the ones buying the shoes, after all.

"These days, when a child who is 8 could be wearing a ladies' size 3, and in some cases, a 10-year-old child can be wearing a ladies' size 7 or 8, it's important to give parents a choice that includes more than just the more adult styles," Rudolf says.

"It can be a big battle between the parents and the kids, because half the time [the kids] can’t walk in the shoes they want. If parents give in, they tend to buy them for holidays or special events," says Berman.

"Look -- take slides for example," Berman adds. "It’s not natural to walk that way. Some of the kids who want to wear slides just learned to walk six or seven years ago. But they see the older girls and grownups wearing them, and they want them, too. It’s a trickle-down effect."

Bare Feet, on Fourth Street near South, carries several examples of adult-styled shoes for girls, including the "Sammy" black boot by Candie’s, a virtual miniature of a woman’s dress boot, available in size 1.

Shopper Donna Kennedy didn’t hesitate to say that she thought the boots were cute, and would buy them for a 7-year-old. Other shoppers, including Kennedy’s companion, were less than comfortable with the notion.

"You’d put a 7-year-old in those boots? I don’t know about that … a 7-year-old?" she asked Kennedy.

Kim Feldbaum, mother of a 6-year-old, took one look at the Mootsie Tootsie "glass"-heeled dress sandal with ankle strap and shook her head.

"They come in size 1?" she asked incredulously. "That’s way over the top. I would not let my daughter wear them."

Kelly Sharp, also the mother of a 6-year-old daughter, agreed. "They are simply too provocative," she said, "and I would not buy them for my child."

"I want my 6-year-old to look like a 6-year-old," Feldbaum chimed in. "She already wants to look like Britney Spears. Shoes like these? I don’t think so."

"They are made to look sexy, just like the women’s shoes," interjected a male store employee.

"Sexy?" snapped Feldbaum. "That’s completely inappropriate for this age group."

Child and adolescent psychiatrist James Luebbert, medical director of Wordsworth, a children’s services agency, says parents should use their judgment when faced with fashion choices like these.

"You want kids to be relaxed and comfortable being their own age and you don’t want them to feel pressure to grow up too fast," Luebbert says. "In these sorts of situations, parents should feel comfortable using their better judgment because the kids are really too young to decide."