With internet usage at an all-time high among 10 – 17 year olds in Australia, it is more important than ever that we, as parents, foster a balance between online and offline activities. As we know, physical activity is essential, as is actively fostering children’s creativity and imagination.

Frederic Djeco’s passion for the finest quality art supplies that are unique and educational inspired us here at Juliet’s Closet. The collections produced by his Paris-based business, “Djeco” are driven by his own artistic style and his appreciation of graphic art, design quality and artistic talent. The company has a reputation for employing the most talented and creative artists who create beautiful art sets – they can make you laugh, dream and explore.

Each of their whimsical designs comes with a creative layout to guide you to creating your own masterpiece. Little artists will love their finished masterpieces and be proud to show them off either in frames for their bedroom wall or pass them on to someone special as a gift. Our editor’s favourite is the Djeco Flower Art Kit which is a beautiful set, perfect for enjoying with your daughter on a lazy Sunday.

With uninspiring electronic gifts currently being commonplace, these DJECO art sets are a beautiful alternative to encourage inner creativity to shine. With items ranging for $10.95 to $39, they are an affordable and age-appropriate gift for the little artist in your life.

Media hype surrounding Target’s choice of inappropriate clothing
Without a doubt, you would have been exposed to the media hype a few weeks ago surrounding Target and the Facebook outrage one Port Macquarie mother initiated. Admiringly, this mother posted on Target’s Facebook page how disappointed she was in the department store’s choice of young girls clothing they supply and asked if they could choose less sexualised and completely inappropriate clothing, for the 7-14 year old girls age group.You can catch up on the story here, but with over 44,000 likes and 2,300 comments listed, it indicates that this is a very real issue for many parents today.

Strong link between sexualisation of girls clothing and low self-esteem
It is in fact a very important point that the young mother from Port Macquarie raised, because there is a very strong link between the sexualisation of girls in all forms of media and the harmful effects this has on their self-esteem and healthy development. We have already touched on this at Juliet’s Closet, and intend to dive further into the issue in following blogs. Here is a another great article that also examines the link How To Raise Girls With Healthy Self-Esteem.

I am so remarkably proud that the sexualisation of girls clothing is striking such media attention, as most of the newspapers and talk-back radio stations jumped on the topic straight away. What we do need to remember though, is that Target, and other large department stores like them, are ‘big-business’. They supply what sells, and what seems to sell, is inappropriate clothing. There are many reasons for this, which we will delve into at a later time, but for now, we as parents need to do our best to teach our tween girls that their value as human beings does not come from their sexual appeal or behaviour.

Finding it hard to access appropriate clothing for tween girls?
If you have read into my ethos on empowering girls at Juliet’s Closet, you will understand that the whole reason this website exists, is to help parents and tween girls find appropriate clothing that protects them from sexualisation and in turn build their self-esteem through encouraging positive self-worth from hidden talents and achievements.

In my opinion, clothing has a specific function of enabling girls to feel comfortable and confident enough to get on and find their passion, strengths and talents. Tween girls self esteem starts on the inside and works its way outwards, not in the opposite direction.

Thankfully, we have found designers at Juliet’s Closet who supply age-appropriate , high-quality and modern clothing for 7-14 year old girls.

Sudo Clothing hits the mark with age-appropriate clothing for girls
Sudo Clothing is one of my favourites. The brainchild of Melbourne based fashion
advocate Terry Lay. A father of three children, Terry set about creating a fashion forward clothing brand for children. Breaking away from conventional children’s wear, Sudo is for those who have an eye for styling and quality, with huge emphasis on fit, construction and function-ability. Sudo offers appropriate styling and quality for the next generation.

The most exciting news about Sudo Clothing and their summer 2013 range is that they have increased their sizing to include a girls size 14. Sudo themselves realised the huge demand by parents for high-quality and appropriate clothing for 7-14 year olds and agree that this is their highest growing segment.

We love the simple lines and unique patterns that make the garments not only look great on, but are really comfortable for the girls to wear. The leggings, jeans, tops and dresses we chose to stock at Juliet’s Closet were chosen for the specific purpose of allowing girls to be children – while they still can!

Designers Maja and Tess are the talented duo behind Sydney based jewellery label Polli Jewellery , and I feel so privileged at Juliet’s Closet to be stocking their gorgeous Sweet Polli range of pendants, as well as some of their extremely popular stainless steel necklaces.

Not only do I believe that the range of Polli necklaces I have selected for Juliet’s Closet will make a very special gift and empower any young girl with a sense of style, Maja and Tess are amazing role models for young girls to aspire to. Extremely talented business women who made their passion for making things into a profitable venture, whilst considering the environment in all that they do.

Here is a little bit of an insight into Polli…

How would you describe your label and how did you get started?
Polli Jewellery is a forum for us to bring together things we love and stay true to our sustainability ethos. Polli is Certified Low CO2 our products are made in Australia from recycled and sustainable materials. The pieces are designed to last and be loved for years. We hope that years down the track you will still wear them and enjoy them.

Soon after graduating from Industrial Design and into consultancy roles we sought the fulfillment of making our own products together. We set ourselves a brief – something fun that we could make by hand, that we would use ourselves and that we could afford to buy. So we started making and selling bright polypropylene baskets at local markets. Saving all the off-cuts from the baskets we turned them into brightly coloured earrings to sell alongside the baskets. The earrings proved more popular than the baskets so we explored other production methods and produced a range of etched stainless steel jewellery. This range forms the basis of Polli today, some of our first designs are still best sellers and we are constantly inspired to create new designs and work in new materials.

What are your backgrounds and how did you meet?
We both come from families of strong design backgrounds and cultures of making things (anything and everything). Our childhood memories are of art galleries, foreign lands, bush walking, watching our grannies sewing and getting messy creating. Maja is the child of a Cabinet Maker / all round amazing sewer and an artist/architect. Tess is the child of two architects with a passion for art and design. We met at university while studying Industrial Design, a group of us would hide out in the ABC cafe, drink tea and chat.