Time to bid adieu to good-time Libby Lu

Posted in Mom Stuff
by besttech

It was the final booty shake for a gaggle of pink-sequined, glitter-eye-shadowed pre-tweens at the St. Louis Galleria last weekend. Club Libby Lu closed it doors after eight years of transforming little girls into life-size Bratz dolls.

Libby Lu charged $25 to $40 per child for its “makeover” birthday parties. I hate to see any employee lose a job, but I’m not going to miss the message of those 98 stores nationwide.

I stumbled into this store a few years ago when my little girl wanted a purple clip-on ponytail for her birthday. I thought it would be ages before she’d be interested in “Hannah Montana” style.

But this month, she was invited to a birthday party at Libby Lu, where she fell hard for the glittery nail polish, elaborate updo (the Lu-do) and dance moves taught by the store clerks.

I was not so enamored. Dress-up is great for the imagination, and the makeup was applied with a light touch. But why push the concept of a “makeover” on a young child? How long is it before she internalizes the idea that our hair, our faces, our bodies need constant making over? When women in their late 20s think its time for a little preventive Botox, it’s because they’ve been getting makeovers since preschool.

It’s the grand finale of the Libby Lu experience that shows us exactly where their path leads. All the little girls perform a few group songs and dances at the entrance of the store. It’s mostly their parents who are standing outside to snap pictures and ooo-and-aah over their little ones, but any shopper walking by becomes an unwilling witness. Attention-seeking stunts at such a young age — some as young as 4 or 5 — give little girls the message that their private celebrations are public entertainment. It contributes to the diminishing separation between private and public behavior rampant in our culture.

Enter Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. Given that two of these party girls skyrocketed their celebrity with publicly distributed sex tapes, it’s hard to fathom their notion of private. And beyond boys of all ages, these women captivate little girls. Club Libby Lu was a glimpse into their world.

That’s why I was uneasy with 6-year-olds jiggling their backsides in the mall. It encourages Celebutante Syndrome: Look at me! I’m so cute and sexy! Watch me dance! Take my picture!

The girls are given pink Britney Spears-like headsets to wear and told they are part of a special and select club. It is an intoxicating pink, fantasy bubble where everything that glitters is for sale.

A friend of mine always tries to distract her 6-year-old daughter when they walk by the store.

But it’s a powerful lure. Now they won’t have to avert their eyes. Doomed by a dour economy, it’s time to bid adieu to good-time Libby Lu.

–By Aisha Sultan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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(c) 2009, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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