Shopper

Banish Those Ducky Prints: The Nursery Goes High-Style

It's hardly news that a plethora of Gen-X parents are coating their offspring's childhoods in hipster cred. The parents say they've cultivated their own stylish aesthetic, so why shouldn't they pass it along? How Darwinian.

But a new crop of goods, formerly thought to be wholly utilitarian, has been birthed in the baby marketplace, making witty slogan tees and graphic crib bedding look like child's play.

How about Boon's Potty Bench? Sleekly minimal with its chartreuse and orange accents, it is far more stylish than the commode to which Junior will graduate, a.k.a. yours. Or the baby bottle drying rack dubbed Splash by Skip Hop. Extruded plastic never looked this good.

And what about the highchair styled by the rock star of the design world, Philippe Starck? His nascent pairing with Maclaren has brought about a line of Space-Agey baby gear after his first efforts in this genre tanked at Target four years ago. But this time around he seems to have gotten it right, which should thrill all those collectors of his grown-up seating.

Once, parents would say, "I want him to have all the things I never had." Now? "I want him to have all the things I have." -- Karen Sommer Shalett

Baby bottle drying rack by Julia Ewan -- The Washington Post; Highchair courtesy of Maclaren; Potty Bench courtesy of Boon Inc.