More Photos (4)

Much like the comfy sweatshirt clothes agnès b. makes for adults, but in tiny sizes. Classic stripes in navy and red and cute skirts and dresses with stars and polka dots.

The same hippy chic styles that Gabriela Cortese makes for women and sells in her other outposts are sold here in miniature so their daughters can be just as groovy. She’s also added maternity clothes and plans a new line for boys next year.

Exquisite baby presents and clothes with lots of lace and smocking. These confections are fit for—and often worn by—the children of royals, rock stars and Russians. It’s the place to come when only the most extravagant infant gesture will do.

More Photos (3)

Marie-France Cohen, founder of this well-known brand, has set the standard for fine French children’s clothes around the world. Many lucky children have, soon after birth, donned her onesies with the days of the week in French embroidered on the front and lived in nothing but her designs until they grew out of them as teenagers. Lucky parents were thus guaranteed that their offspring always looked well turned out. At the new flagship store, you’ll find the whole range of infant to pre-teen fashions as well as a charming restaurant on a terrace that overlooks a garden, making it a great place for a snack before or after a shop and playtime in the nearby Luxembourg gardens.

Tip: You can book a table at the Bonpoint Cafe online at www.bonpoint.com, where you can also view addresses for other Paris locations.

Enlarge Photo

This shop was opened by one of the children of the founders of Bonpoint, the venerable French children’s clothing maker known for its pretty smocked dresses for girls. It’s housed in a loftlike setting and showcases vegetable-dyed cotton separates and toys, plus an adorable children’s barbershop next door. A second store opened this spring at 118 Rue Vieille du Temple in the Marais. Métro: Rue du Bac.

This charming boutique on the Left Bank with its bright blue façade caters to children from 0 to 8 years old. In addition to clothes, they sell adorable nursery accessories and baby presents like soft toy rabbits and bumpers in patterns that reverse from chic stripes to Braquenié-like florals.

The first branch of this boutique opened in the Marais in 2000; they have since expanded with a shop on the Left Bank. With clothes for children from three months to 12 years and sweet accessories, the collection has proved that there is still demand for well-made, chic toddler togs, especially those with a retro nod. Girls can expect Liberty print dresses and skirts; boys can stock up on classic button-down cotton shirts in navy and khaki; but it’s the printed bloomers for babies that grab the eye of most moms.

This low-price chain of children’s clothes receives new shipments daily. Styles ran the gamut from dressy to decontracté (casual), for children from three months to 14. Expect K-mart prices with a French flair that you won’t see on other children in the U.S. For more locations, visit the Web site.

Just down from the Café de Flore is a the light-filled space of La Chatelaine, where you can find lovely layette items mixed in with Liberty print smocks and peasant-style blouses, traditional smart shorts and classic little shoes for well-dressed children. Whisper-thin cotton cardigans and mini khaki trench coats, knit booties in pastel colors and bubble jumpers all make you long to be invited to a baby shower or have a new one of your own. Métro: St.-Germain-des-Près.

Just across from the lovely housewares boutique Blanc d’Ivoire, this child of the its parent linen shop next door, La Paresse en Douce, sells a delectable assortment of kids’ clothing and housewares. Nothing cutting-edge but all beautifully made and tasteful. Metro: Rue du Bac.

Jane Fichard opened this special children’s clothing shop in 1986 and parents become such addicts of her well-made, sophisticated clothes that they order from around the world. Oona the Bear, as the name translates, feels like an idyllic child’s bedroom. Plaids and Liberty prints, khakis and grey flannels are tailored in a non-babyish way. Located next to the Jardins du Luxembourg, the boutique is perfect for a family outing after some park play.

Enlarge Photo

Founded in 1893, Petit Bateau is a much more elegant version of Fruit of the Loom, so famous is it for its soft cotton underwear. They expanded from undershirts and briefs to making baby clothes in 1980, and instantly moms recognized that their cotton onesies, pajamas and T-shirts seem softer than others. The first French boutique opened in 2000 on the Champs-Elysées, and now that they sell T-shirts and T-shirt dresses for adults, moms can shop for themselves at the same time.

The children’s section of the gorgeous country chic home shop, where you can find clothes and home furnishings that evoke sunny days in the country just as they should be in childhood for ages 0 to 14. Monic Fischer, founder of the brand, first added a children’s room to her home-like interiors store and realized by visitors’ oohs and aahs that there would be demand for an entire juvenile universe. She now sells everything from nursery curtains to gigoteuses (sleep sacks) in a soothing palette of prints and comforters and furniture for teenagers room that please picky adolescents as well as the parents who have to live with their choices.

This shop in the Marais sells minimalist children’s clothes for girls and boys who will grow up to wear Armani and Calvin.

Enlarge Photo

This bright and airy children’s clothing and toy boutique exudes a whiff of innocence with its cheery space and its racks of clothes and old-fashioned toys. Opened by Italian Mariu de Andreis, the children’s boutiques sell traditional clothes with a bit of flair like pinafore dresses in Indian prints and little leather flip-flops with metallic stars and suede moccasins. Soft cotton t-shirts with a silk screen of a vintage car or little wrap skirts with embroidered roses for boys and girls who require comfy chic.