Little Girls Dressing Like Britney Spears

N E W   Y O R K, Aug. 14, 2001 -- Half-shirts, mini-skirts, and booty shorts are fashions you'd expect to find on gyrating dancers in sexy music videos — grown women. But these days you'll also see them on the under-13 set.

Forget coveralls and knee-length smocks. Girls as young as 5 years old are trading in their button-down shirts and corduroy pants for the hipster jeans and micro-minis they see on their fashion role models.

From Barbie to Britney

Some parents say sexy young stars like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera have made back-to-school shopping a battle.

Now "baby Britneys" and "teeny Christeenies" are pestering their parents to have a wardrobe that's beyond their years.

"When I take them shopping they pick out things that show too much and aren't appropriate for school at all," said Robyn Cohen, mother of a pre-teen.

But Roberta Caploe, editor of the teen magazine Tiger Beat, says these performers and teen magazines are just giving kids what they want.

"I don't think it's about trying to look older, I just think they are just trying to dress like stars they think are fantastic," Capole said.

Retail stores like Target, and Wet Seal, are also giving them what they want.

The store's racks are bursting with sexy choices, like tight "Playboy" T-shirts and pink fake leather pants.

Five-year-old Lotte Pickard loves her pink fishnet stockings her strappy sandals, which she says, are sexy. "I like to look sexy," the little girl explains.

Sexy Equals Pretty

The tight, short clothes are cute and they have no place the classroom, says elementary school teacher Dana Zeman.

"In my class, I'd like to set a protocol because I think students are too young to set it for themselves," Zeman said.

Most schools do have dress codes that prohibit midriff baring shirts and short skirts and disciplinarians say they will enforce the rules.