L’infanzia in gioco. Una lettura sociologica della moda bambino

Currently, the public and scientific discourse on childrenswear focuses on its potentially harmful aspects, the production of stereotypical models and the risks that these models may have on the behaviours of children; however, further research is required regarding the representations of childhood and the sources of inspiration of fashion designers, on the one hand, and the meanings attributed to clothing and fashion by children and their parents, on the other. This contribution is based on narrative interviews with a vast range of professionals working in the fashion system for children (fashion designers, stylists, photographers, brands, bloggers, journalists, fashion directors, child models and their parents etc.) and on preliminary fieldwork observations of international childrenswear exhibitions in Florence, The study aims to analyse the social construction of childhood in the fashion system for children. In particular, the essay reveals the heuristic specificity of the children’s clothing industry for the historical relevance of the sector in the construction of contemporary understanding of childhood. It highlights its links with the world of play and fantasy and also shows the perspective of adults involved, that of children and their capacity to interpret the “adult” world, to relate to it and sometimes to re-design it. Therefore the children’s clothing industry appears to be an experimental field in which to analyse the cultural changes of childhood and adulthood.