Hipster children are the best accessories

Kingston Rossdale has more swag than all of us combined.

No, I did not come to that conclusion after draining rum cokes before lunchtime. I was rather sober when my multiple personalities and I agreed upon that hypothesis.

I came across a photo of the nauseatingly cool four-year-old on minihipster.com, a site that celebrates stylish toddlers. (I don’t know what was more disturbing: that such a thing exists in the wilds of cyberspace, or that I’m aware of it and even have it bookmarked.) There, in a post called “Celebrity Minis,” was Gwen Stefani’s and Gavin Rossdale’s son, in gray jeans, a yellow hooded vest and checkerboard Vans slip-ons. More than the outfit, what got me was the fact that the rock and roll offspring displayed all the poise of a tabloid veteran, one who has been stalked by telephoto lenses all his life. The caption  “Do you think Kingston Rossdale knows he’s groovy?”  said it all.

5,255 notes and counting: A lot of people liked and reblogged my Kingston Rossdale post on Tumblr, with the general sentiment being Gwen Stefani’s son has swag.

Intrigued, I posted a picture of little Kingston in my blog. I may come off a bit Pedobear-ish when I say this, but I did so because I totally dug his outfit, especially his Pendleton vest, leather boots and parted hair. Within minutes, my photo post  clearly a product of boredom  was liked and reblogged all across the Tumblrverse. Most of the comments were positive: “I want my future children to look like that!”; “Kingston has mad style!”; and “ASDFGHJKL.” The rest, however, questioned the propriety of such a trend-led look on such a young kid; “Let children be children!” seemed to sum up that sentiment.

“It used to be that children’s wardrobes where a bit of an afterthought. Not a priority on the splurge front, they consisted primarily of hand-me-downs, corduroy, a nice line in novelty jumpers and the odd bit of smocking for special occasions,” wrote the Sunday Times’ Gemma Soames. “But not anymore.”

With Willow Smith’s recent arrival on the scene, there has been renewed interest in celebrity kids and their so-called style. While Suri Cruise, the four-year-old daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, is still the reigning queen bee of tiny fashion icons, a more hipstery kind of celebritot has also emerged. There’s Ryder Robinson, Kate Hudson’s six-year-old, and young Maddox Jolie-Pitt, both of whom sport statement locks. Clearly, Kingston Rossdale is the edgiest of them all as far as the Hollywood baby fashion grapevine is concerned.

Father figure: Singer Gavin Rossdale and son Kingston Rossdale backstage at the Edun Spring 2011 fashion show GETTY IMAGES

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There was a time when a miniature dog was the accessory of choice for celebrities. Then it was the “It” bag. Now it’s nattily dressed offspring. The concept of designer lifestyles for kids may seem seriously gaga here, but somehow it makes perfect sense.

“Most children want to be comfortable,” Soames continues. “It is their parents who need them to be cool. Because, in the same way that your own designer choices define who you are, so now, do your child’s. An extenstion of your perfectly art-directed life, they are the ultimate projection of your taste.”

So as this mini-me effect spreads from the golden ghettos familiar to TMZ reporters to more down-to-earth neighborhoods, will we be seeing more and more Kingston Rossdale clones in the near future? Just maybe. But one thing’s for sure: when that happens, competitive parents will make sure that nothing  not even a single carrot stain  ruins those killer kiddie outfits.  

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