Mini-Me Sunglasses

Are you familiar with Mini-Me? The clone created to be an exact replica of the wretched Dr Evil in the Austin Powers movies, but was “one-eighth his size”?

Mini-me

Dr Evil probably got the idea from his mother who, when he was a child, would dress him in outfits that coordinated with her own.

This got me thinking about how we dress our kids in relation to our own clothing, and I came up with 4 different types of Mini-Me Mothers. Which one are you?

The 4 types of Mini-Me Mothers.

1. The Snap!

This is when a mother dresses her child in exactly the same outfit as her own.

Mothers in the ’70s often fell into this category, running up frocks on their Singer sewing machines for themselves and their daughters using patterns like this:

Dressing your kids this way has an extra benefit: it makes it easier to track down lost offspring in shopping centres.

Imagine the voice on the loudspeaker calling out:

“We are looking for a lost girl named Lucy. She’s 3ft 2, blonde hair, brown eyes and wearing the exact same purple Jacquard shift dress as her 31-year-old mum.”

These people are also into cloning.

Unless you want your skin and thighs compared to that of a child, The Snap! is something to avoid in public.

But if you’re a mad keen Snapper, there are loads of pyjama options for you to go crazy with in the privacy of your home. Peter Alexander does pyjamas for all the family in matching designs.

2. The Sample Sized Snap.

This is where a mother matches just one item with her child, usually an accessory like a bag, shoes, or sunglasses.

Mini-Me Sunglasses

Sample Sized Snappers tend to think that their great taste in clothing and accessories transcends age and gender.

They are also into cloning.

Katie Holmes and Suri wearing matching ballet flats

3. The ‘Mini-me Collective’

This is when you and your offspring wear coordinating outfits from the same ‘collection’ or ‘story’ – like you would see on the catwalk at a designer’s show.

Same fabric, same finishes, same general vibe, yet the outfits are different to make them more appropriate for the age, size and shape of the wearer.

Often worn by mums who would rather be mistaken as their kid’s older sister, or someone who is really, really into a particular motif or theme.

ShirinNYC are masters of the Mini-Me Collective. Here are some examples of what you can buy for kids and women in their ‘Summer Dreams’ collection.

4. The Co-ord Club

This is where you consciously have a common theme running through the outfits you and your child are sporting, yet they are not necessarily by the same designer or brand.

Wearing your latest neutral ensemble from Country Road? Then your offspring are probably also dressed in muted shades of off white, bone, ivory, beige, putty, cream, sand and pumice.

Feeling nautical today? Then you dress your kids in stripes too – albeit they may be slightly different to yours.

Brad and Ange are the ruling monarchs for The Co-ord Clubbers, as they manage to coordinate perfectly with their numerous progeny whenever they are all seen out together.

This styling is no accident. But then again, neither is this ~~photo shoot~~ family outing.

People in The Co-Ord Club probably also match tissue boxes to their decor, own multiple sets of identical towels, and in more extreme cases, colour code the spines of books on their shelves.

Me?

I’ll admit to the matching aviators, and find it is sometimes really fun for the boys and I to wear them out, Sample Sized Snap style. And I have been known to dine in The Co-ord Club from time to time, especially after a good nights sleep (which, with two little ones is not very often).

And then again, there are those times when I struggle to get the clan out of our pyjamas and into something clean. On those days, perhaps it’s best to stay home, crank up some shagadelic retro tunes and do the lounge-room disco thing with my Mini-Mes. Yeah Baby!

What type of Mini-Me Mother are you?

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