Mrs. Hu was surprised by this. She looked at the children in front of her. In the middle was one dressed in a white suit; on the left a little one wearing a lace frilly skirt with a pattern of little flowers with a peach red sweater; and on the right one with bright yellow sweats, with an adorable Mickey Mouse on the front. Looking at her own daughter in a red sweater balled up by the washing machine and faded jeans, she could not help but say, "My child has fallen behind!"

Thinking back to thirty years ago, the second child would wear what the first had worn; it would be patched up and passed onto the third. No one dared object. Most children only got a new outfit at the New Year, often made at home by mother. Whatever it looked like, as long as it was new the child would be delighted. And going to what was then the most famous store for children's clothing, "The Peacock Shop," made one who-could-say how proud.

Cheng Hui-pi of the Chin-chin Day Care Center says: "Nowadays if a child wears the same thing two days running, her classmates will ask, 'Why are you wearing that old thing again?'"

Because todays' income is higher, and life is relatively easier than in the past, people have more time to look after what their kids wear, and are willing to put up the money to give the little ones a good "front." Now most families are small, and children are now important participants at weddings, holidays.... And kids have their own "social" activities, so adding a little style is inevitable.

Demand for children's clothes has increased greatly, and demand for quality is greater and greater. Specialized shops like "Les enphants," "Chicco," and "My Baby" began to replace the "Peacock Shop" ten years ago, because they were able to meet the demands of upper middle-class buyers. Already these are seen as "traditional children's clothing" and new shops are rising. Some have turned to trendy leisure wear splashed with color, others to soft pastels... these innovative changes have drawn consumers in swarms.

Two years ago, the Sunrise Department Store set the pace. Bringing together the capacities of ten companies, they opened the "Fashionable Baby Boutique," giving a stage to trendy children's clothes. They used contrasting colors, with series of different colors: black and white, silver, mixed; new touches like padded shoulders; and in style, there were the leisure series, the country series, the schoolroom series....

What makes for "fashionable"?

Rebecca Lee, section chief of the merchan-dising department at the Sunrise Department Store, says that in the past "fashionable" was what was different from the crowd; now the demand is for quality.

Whether you believe it or not, children's fashions follow the world's popular trends. From last fall classic styles became influential: simple but finely made sweaters, plaid skirts.... "It really has that well-bred look," is one consumer's description. And accessories are in.

And it's not just rummaging through piles of kid's clothes in the store anymore. Now displays are set up to give the consumer the various styles at a glance.

The greatest impact on consumers of this kind of service, which comes with high unit prices, is "It often makes one lose rationality, and bust the budget."

Over a long period, parents will find that expenses for children's clothes have become considerable. An ordinary sweater goes for NT$1000 (US$35-40), a winter coat two or three thousand.... The careful shopper can find things for half off or more from street vendors or at seasonal sales.

These kinds of prices leave consumers perplexed--why are children's clothes more expensive than those for adults?

T. Crayon chief Lin Ho Min explains that children's clothes are not like domestically made clothes for teen girls, with normally one-size-fits-all. Because sales volume is not easy to control, pressure from overstocks is great and consumer tastes change radically, if one guesses the wrong trend, then the costs of stagnant sales become evident. There is much more risk than selling teen clothes. Therefore, "the amount of capital needed for children's clothing is triple that for teen girls' wear; only then can one maintain turnover," says Chen Juo-chien of the "Fashionable Baby Boutique."

To put it another way, given the large amount of material and large sales volume in teen girls' clothes, costs are lower than for kidswear. Moreover, kids clothes have to be adorable, lively, with many sewn designs or little flowers--these things all increase the difficulty of the sewing, raising labor costs. Further, the sales volume is somewhat small, so development costs are naturally increased.

Who buys these expensive clothes?

Chen Juo-chien says the original targets were high-income urbanites. Recently it has been discovered that local nine-to-fivers' consumption ability is quite strong, and the main consumers of children's fashion are concentrated in the late twenties and early thirties group. With fashionable people becoming parents, the children at their side naturally are fashionable, too.

In an era of rapid communications, the fashion trend is no longer limited to Taipei, though sales in other areas are more often at sales times and limited to gift-giving or stages when it's necessary to buy new clothes.

As adults are busy racking their brains over the costs of their children's clothes, children develop their own "tastes" through the examples of parents, elders, teachers, peers, television, picture books.... Given a chance to show it, the kids often give parents an eye-opening experience. Miss Liao, who has worked in children's clothing shops for many years, says, "Now children have their own views. When they go into a shop, they can clearly point out what they want, and they are often not far off the mark."

Mothers may think that when kids get to primary school age they will be in school all day, with no time to wear leisure clothes. Wrong. By fifth or sixth grade they're into designer labels; they love to compare and they love to show off. And many are finding that there's potential in the market for "big children": this summer T. Crayon will design clothes suitable for twelve- to eighteen-year- olds.

Looking at today, and thinking of the future, nine-to-fivers may end up crying desperately, "I'm trapped!"

[Picture Caption]

On the streets of Taipei, the kids are dressed more fashionably than the mothers.

The newest demand by children: "I want to choose my own clothes!"

This kind of clothing is already not enough to call it "fashionable."

When talking about the design of kids' clothes, you have to talk "person ality"; but the sales displays have to have "personality" as well.

Twenty or so years ago, the way these two sisters were done up could hav e been called "magnificent." (photo courtesy of Sunny Hsiao)

This kind of clothing is already not enough to call it "fashionable."

Birthdays are one of the social occasions most valued by children; they really need to be dressed up some.

In the past birthdays were a major event. But as long as guests wore a set of "formal clothes"--uniforms--to go to the affair, then things would be considered proper. (photo courtesy of Huang Chin-ling)

To search for pearls at street stands is still the habit of most shoppers. (photo by Wang Wei-chang)

The scene of the action at the General Athletic Fields in Chungho, Taipei County.