Virtual Entrepreneur

Niche: Dressing Babies Like Celebrities

WSJ:
Adriana Serio is into celebrity fashion. She recently got a $28 pair of pink Mary Jane shoes by Robeez after the daughter of actress and former Miss USA Ali Landry was photographed wearing them.

Adriana can’t put her enthusiasm into words. She’s only nine months old. But her mother, Gina Serio, who bought the shoes, admits to her own fascination with what celebrities’ babies are wearing.

The 32-year-old Springfield, N.J., mother of 2 logs on to www.celebrity-babies.com whenever she’s looking for something nice for her kids. Recently, she ordered a hair clip she saw worn by the infant daughter of ‘Dancing With the Stars’ co-host Samantha Harris. Ms. Serio admits her fascination with celebrity babies is ’sick, really sick.’

An industry of magazines and blogs chronicles and critiques what the stars wear. But this is a new crease. To the delight of entrepreneurs, it turns out a lot of people are willing to spend money dressing their little ones like Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, the 2-year-old daughter of actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Suri Cruise, the 2-year-old daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, is also a role model.

It’s hard to pin down what’s behind this fascination with the sartorial splendor of celebrity offspring. Are the stars having more babies? A large number of A-list actresses did get pregnant at about the same time. And more of them are willing to share intimate details of their family lives. Magazines are willing to pay for exclusive baby pictures. Baby pictures sell magazines.

Then, too, a national baby boom seems to be aborning. In 2006, there were 4.3 million babies born in the U.S., the largest number since 1961, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

New parents these days are generally older and have more discretionary income. The result: Sales of clothing for kids 3 and under grew 11.2% last year, compared with 2.9% for the overall apparel market, according to market researcher NPD Group.

Antoinette Collins, a 26-year-old administrative assistant in Dayton, Ohio, says she bought a $25 pack of camouflage-print socks after seeing rocker couple Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale’s 2-year-old son, Kingston Rossdale, knocking around London in his socks. Now, Ms. Collins’s son, Jase, who is five months old, ‘can be just as hot as any celebrity baby,’ his mother says.

New York grandmother-to-be Lynn Rubin says she peruses magazines for movie-star product tips. Read more.