The Secret Fashion Life of Tweens
When Jennifer Williams first started her blog, “What My Daughter Wore” in 2011 the idea was to chronicle the fashion choices of her now 12-year-old daughter Clementine in colorful artistic renderings. The sketchbook soon expanded to to include Clementine’s siblings and their friends and before long those playful drawings had become an online sensation.
Today, Williams is not only a social media darling but a critically acclaimed author, with the “What My Daughter Wore” paperback released in December. “I think the book is a fun, playful look at what girls are wearing right now,” Williams said in an interview.
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"Its focus is the tween years, because at that age it’s still possible to find kids dressing entirely for themselves, without regard for trends or peer pressure."
Over the past three years, Williams has posted hundreds of pencil drawings of her three siblings and their friends. The Williamsburg, Brooklyn-based painter had been looking for ways to continue her artwork while navigating a small living space that served as both a home and professional studio. That’s when she decided to pick up a pencil and begin making a permanent record of that which literally surrounded her – three precocious, impossible to deny, kids.
Before long, the series of eye-catching portraits developed a hardcore following online, with more than 27,000 followers on Instagram alone.
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Williams even made Time Magazine’s list of 25 best bloggers in 2013, a list otherwise largely populated by high-minded political and cultural writers. As Kelly Coniff wrote:
“The self-described ‘Brooklyn mom’ illustrates her subjects in a way that shows off trends: big glasses, creative headwear and graphic t-shirts are often highlighted. But the colorful drawings also tap into the depth of feelings — whether they are mischievous, charmed or tortured — that come with the onset of teenage years.”
Along with the critical acclaim, Clementime and her cohorts are reminding grownups that sometimes the best fashion choices are those made without bending over backwards to conform to the latest, disposable trend. In one review of the book, StyleBistro’s Dana Burke wrote, “I’m totally inspired to revamp my wardrobe and wear whatever the heck I want.”
As to those unique fashion choices, Williams gives all credit to her daughter, telling New York Magazine, “I think that she’s very creative and very unique. She never took much input from me — I dressed her for the first year or so, but ever since she was about 1 1/2, she’s had her own ideas about how to dress. I remember there was an entire year when she was 2 or 3 that she only wanted to wear a Danskin leotard — a convenient thing right around toilet training.”
In the same interview, Williams says she doesn’t know how much longer she’ll continue to publicly chronicle the fashion choices of Clementine or her siblings. But she says what started as a private passion will continue long after the blog eventually goes away.
"I don’t know how much longer I’ll be doing it,” Williams said. “It may have run its course at some point soon. I don’t know. But I’ll always be drawing her.”
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