Where are you shopping for your pre-teen dd?

[karne]

I'm a little stymied here. My dd is tall for her age. She hates jeans, but tolerates khakis. Her preferred mode of dressing is a gypsy type skirt, leggings or footless tights, and a t-shirt. Or, the ooposite end of plain tee, beige pants, madras belt and loafers. Totally comfortable and funky. She looks really beautiful with her own style, and doesn't especially care what anyone else is wearing, or what's trendy. Her un-trendy ways are actually a pretty big hit w/her friends, lol, but she's oblivious. She puts together a sort of euro-funky look w/out trying.

So, where to shop? We hit a lot of consignment shops, which is fine, but sometimes it's nice to not have such a 'pre-worn" look. The real juniors sizes aren't made for her body at this point, ie no waist, and often the shirts are too roomy. But the old stand-by's of Hanna, Lands End, etc. don't cut it either. I went to justice, but in the end it was just dreadful and overpriced. I would rather spend more on fewer, but better clothes.

Any suggestions? I'm very slightly panicked over the sudden lack of back to school clothing dd has.

[Mirzam]

I will be watching this thread because I want to know too!

After two days in middle school my 11 yo DD announced she needed new clothes. Up until this point she was happy to wear pretty much anything -- she was previously at a school with 7 students total, she being the only girl -- so how she looked really didn't matter a jot to her. Until now she has been happy with Hanna, Mini Boden and brands like REI. Not any more.

Last weekend DH took DD to Justice just as it was closing and spent a fortune. The clothes were okay, but I can't say I loved them. She was happy with them though.

[Deefodil]

A Justice outlet store just opened near us, 8yo DD is thrilled.

Also, there is a 40% off coupon for Justice floating around on the web. So that helps with the expensive factor.

I thought a lot of what my 8yo picked out was cute.

[mata]

My oldest does most of her shopping at www.tillys.com.

[boobybunny]

My 10 year old is 5'1" and only 85lbs.. so I feel ya.

We are doing a mix of her brother's outgrown size 14s that I have turned into "skinny jeans" for her..

I am pretty lucky though, her sense of style runs more to the west coast surfer girl in the summer.. and in the winter she's decked out in patagucci.. (from yard sales and the like)


Of course.. the only shoes she owns right now that fit her are her basketball shoes (worn only on gym floors.. she's a tournament player) and her Oneil flip flops.

This year I was SUPER lucky. Digging in my MIL's attic, I found my husband's circa 198? Oniel backpack.. The thing is neon pink, blue, teal, and lime green. SHE LOVES IT! Plus we found old sweatshirts and neon ts that we are now playing with.

[Suzmama]

My older DD has that funky look too. We look for sales at this great store called Habitat...I can't seem to find it online but the stores are in malls around here.

[mild_adventurer]

My DD is a tall skinny 10 1/2 year old and my DSD is a tall skinny 12 1/2 year old.

DD is NOT into trendy clothes and like the OPs daughter, tends to put together her own eclectic looks. She spent 2 hours on www.llbean.com last night picking out her school wardrobe. In the end, we spent about $150 to get her all set up. Her other favorite spot is The Rugged Bear. We have a store near us, but they do have a website, too: www.ruggedbear-online.com. I've also had luck with the JCrew kids' line: http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Browse/Crew...Kids/girls.jsp

DSD is a bit trendier. She prefers the big, baggy, shiny "basketball" shorts that a lot of kids are wearing now and goes for the tighter fitting, longer "butt-hugging" t-shirts. We don't seem to have any trouble finding stuff for her at our local department stores like JC Penney, Sears, Bon Ton, Kohls, etc.

[HomeBirthMommy]

My oldest is also quite tall. She loves the clothes from Mini Boden. They seem to fit her well and the quality is high, IMO. We love to "treasure hunt" for them gently used b/c they wear so well. The prices are on the high side, but I signed up for their mailing list and can get great deals on their sales. I love that the clothes are so funky. It's always great to find something the girls and I both adore!

[operamommy]

We've had good luck so far at JC Penney for dd, age 11.

[Kristine233]

We dont have a lot of options here. My oldest LOVES shopping used clothes stores. She has a different/funky clothes style. She went shopping at a second hand store recently with Grandma for school clothes and was really happy about her finds. She'd be totally fine with not having anything new, lol. We have a store called Saver's that she really likes. I do plan on hitting the mall before school starts, my other 2 kids are more "preppy" in their tastes so we'll be hitting Old Navy for them. I'll have to keep an eye out for the other stores mentioned on this thread for my oldest.

[Drummer's Wife]

I bought my DD (8) a new wardrobe from Gymboree before school started. She LOVED her new clothes, was very excited about all the coordinated accessories like headbands and shoes, tights, knee socks, jackets, etc.

Then, on the 2nd day of school a 5th grade girl told her, "matching is old school".

I tell DH, who says, "yeah, weren't you paying attention when we were at the mall?'

um, no. He said that's the style and that even shoes are made to not match (?)

So, DD shows me the booklet we got in the mail from children's place that shows all these kids wearing multiple prints, different colors - pretty much not matchy-matchy at all.

I told her she can mismatch her cute gymbo clothes ("but, mom, they are kinda babyish... I saw kindergartener with the same heart print dress") and that I will buy her a few new things here and there but can't go out and buy her all new clothes since she loved and wanted the matching stuff and I spent a lot of money on them.

ehh. she still likes them, and the last thing I want is for her to change her style b/c of peer pressure, y'know? But at the same time, she does like some of the mis-matchy and lots of layers clothing (and some are cute, I guess).

She is in the biggest size gymboree makes anyway, so it won't be an issue for long, I guess. It's just too bad I don't have a baby girl to dress all cute and matchy.

I'll have to check out Justice. I've never even heard of it

[neptunemama]

My oldest is 10, and we shop at The Children's Place and Target mainly. She likes the bright colorful shirts at TCP, their yoga pants and she found a skort she liked a lot too. I find that their clothes hold up and wear well, and I pass them on to my younger dd (who's 7 1/2). Target fills in her wardrobe. For special occasions (birthday or Christmas) I'll get my girls something from Mini Boden, b/c their stuff is wonderful and lasts forever, but it's too pricey to get all their clothes from there. And Zappos is a great place to get shoes.