I love dinosaurs. As a child I wanted to be a paleontologist, and my parents took me to Drumheller several times so that I could experience the magnificence that is the Royal Tyrrell Museum. I’ve never grown out of my dinosaur phase, which I think is part of the reason why I relate so well to kids.
I came across an article in which a mother, unable to find dinosaur or science-themed dresses for her daughter, resorted to making them herself. She felt that girls “shouldn’t have to decide between dresses and dinosaurs or ruffles and robots” (in addition to dinosaurs, her range includes dresses festooned in purple and pink symbols for “Pi”, pirates, and atomic characters).
Traditional divides between “masculine” and “feminine” interests should ideally no longer dictate an individual’s personal expression – a love of science doesn’t make a girl any less of a girl, nor should an appreciation of floral shirts make a boy any less of a boy. We’ll know we’ve truly evolved as a society when boys and girls of all ages can freely express themselves without fear of judgment or ridicule.
With this in mind, here are a few dinosaur print dresses for “grown ups” that aren’t only fun but which could help show kids that a) you don’t have to “grow out” of interests you’re passionate about, and b) interests are inherently genderless, and only become “masculine” or “feminine” when we assign labels to them.
Dinosaur Smock Dress / The Whitepepper A cotton dinosaur dress + matching leggings = story time heaven. The stegosaurus clutch is just the icing on the cake. If only it wasn’t quite so expensive…
Dino My Gosh Dress / Modcloth I highly respect Modcloth’s commitment to diversity – they feature models of all shapes, sizes and colours in their advertising, which is something other clothing companies could take note of.
Dino Bones About It / Modcloth This is definitely a more subtle dinosaur print, perfect for days when you want to look polished but still quirky.
Land Before Sublime Dress / Modcloth I certainly didn’t intend for this article to be an ode to Modcloth, but they certainly seem to understand the keys to my heart. Their ability to take an outlandish fabric and transform it into a tres chic item of clothing is highly commendable. Not only do these prints look cute as dresses, they would make stellar shirts or shorts for men and women.