To step in regarding 7yo's clothing choices

As long as she's dressing appropriately for the weather, I don't see the issue.
As pp said this

My DSnow 16 has always chosen his own clothes and knows his own mind about what he wants to wear - even on school dress down days at primary he had strong opinions and wasn't in the football kits that all the other boys chose , he always looks really good in his combinations and it's one less thing to make a mountain out of

I worried more about his bloomin messy bedroom but MN taught me to close the door on it to stop me stressing about it and that works

Nothing has stopped me worrying about lack of gcse revision though

The middle ground in our house is that DD gets to pick the top or bottoms and I complete the outfit.

She gets her choice, I get to make it look nice (and quite often still get to give her a choice about jeans/leggings/skirt).

She looks as well presented as a child can, but the “look” is based upon the main piece she picked.

As she’s getting older and has mainly ditched patterned bottom half clothing it’s getting easier I must admit! I think I’ll be suggesting that she can try putting outfits together herself this summer, when I can work on gently explaining colour combos etc.

Good for him! Teens here are very identikit.

As long as she's dressing appropriately for the weather, I don't see the issue.

I certainly wasn't a fashion icon at 7, and I doubt many are!

My own 7yo DD currently favours sparkly party dresses worn over the top of patterned leggings and tops. It's a vibe.

My 11 year old son often goes out in full hot pink or hi viz yellow top to toe including to school on PE days. He enjoyed the fuss people made about it, including negative comments as he likes an argument. Now it’s his normal look and people who know him dont notice it and the kids who took the piss no longer do. It makes me happy that he feels that comfortable to stand out, I never did!

My 6 year old is the same. We let him crack on with it. He is so little and still learning. I do think he is actually getting better, the things he chooses are starting to match somewhat and he will point out that the orange in the top matches the orange in the trousers (ignoring all the rest) and sometimes he puts something together that looks really lovely.

I intervene if what he has on isn't weather appropriate or if we are going somewhere that requires us to look a bit smart or fancy. Then we pick somethings out together and find something we both think looks good.

I notice that for dress down days he is already starting to opt for something more muted like jeans and a hoodie instead of crazy patterned leggings, so I think he is already noticing what the more grown up kids wear and wants to fit in a bit more there. It won't be that long before he is asking for a black tracksuit I guess 🙁

Don't understand why you are making this into a problem.

Let your daughter wear what she wants to wear (age and weather appropriate). Honestly this anxiety over matching clothes is pretty sad. Where do you think kids learn to make fun of people for their clothing? From adults. Teach your daughter better than that.

I have several friends whose daughters wear clothes that are ‘well put together’. Those children have their outfits picked for them by their parents, even if it’s ‘do you want top A or B?’. Tried that with my own daughter but no chance 🤣 I’ve learnt to let her pick her own way and if anyone makes fun of her they can get lost.

@Ilovechocolate87 the thing is, it's not something that needs teaching as it used to be. There are no hard and fast rules like "no double denim" or "no socks with sandals" or whatever , because "fashion" ,trends and styles are forever changing . As they age , most kids outgrow the "got dressed in the dark " stage eventually.

I have a 12 yo now who developed a massive aversion to any patterns,logos, writing etc. for the past 3/4 years. I honestly miss sometimes the days of the "unicorn puked on her " look, or red and white wide striped tights and neon green,sparkly tinkerbell shoes or the (badly home made) tie dye full outfits.

I don't think this is true at all. We all care what people think of how we look, because it greatly impacts how we are treated. Having been raised in the belief that it was literally true that clothes don't matter, I believed it for longer than I should. In reality it is part of our social communication like posture or cleanliness, and we are unwise to tell children otherwise.

My 5yo went out in sparkly tights, a swimming costume and walking boots last weekend. I let her get on with it - she’s got her whole life to be sensible.

Personally I wouldn't do this as it's being critical over something they have picked themselves. Give them a bit of freedom/autonomy and they'll feel grown up a d proud that they picked their outfit. Not so much if they are told that what they've chosen doesn't work.

But she thinks bright red trousers with tigers on goes with her blue and green check top so convincing her that she needs a plain top with it has nothing to do with the environment. As it is she's getting fat more wear out of stuff she loves

One thing that strikes me on this thread is the number of comments like "My daughter has thrown on a unicorn top, a sparkly kitten jacket, a tutu, stripey tights and wellies! Let them express themselves, I say."

It is fairly clear that these children's choices are being managed by a carefully curated wardrobe, so they can choose freely from a selection of the "right" garments. They are not rocking a peach cotton summer dress with a hand-me-down khaki army surplus sweater and bare legs in winter, or a Mombasa t shirt, red Adidas track pants and baby blue anorak (two looks of mine that I regret based on photos prominently displayed in my parents' house). At that time clothes often came in a big black bin bag from friends, and were not curated at all.

So what I would suggest OP is that you steer her by controlling what is in her wardrobe, to limit the damage

if you want it raise a confident daughter who is secure in her self then the best thing you could do is teach her not to care about what other people think about how she looks.

Yep.

like pp said about teaching plaid and polka dots don’t go- I’ve seen some amazing outfits which “intellectually” shouldn’t be seen together but some creative soul has and it works brilliantly.

the point of fashion is to do new things and be creative. You won’t know if it works until you try it.

I think your post appeals to liberal-minded, fairly well-educated types (nothing wrong with that, I'm one myself). I suspect many parents are actually controlling of these things, either through sensitivity to what others think, because they think they know best or due to lack of finances. (As a teacher and parent myself, I've met a lot of parents.)

The thing is, if you say 'that's the wrong thing to wear, here are rules about how to dress' you're likely to a) stress her out and b) make her repeat that message to other kids, in a less tactful way.

Just let her be a kid.

Also give up on “teaching” them about clothes - you are too old and your advice is pointless.

Yes the one of mine that dressed like your Dd is the only girl in her group that branches out occasionally - then they all copy her 😀

She won't be at 7.

Enjoy it before she hits tween/ early teen clone stage when they all dress exactly the same.

I would leave her to it.
She will probably be observing how others dress, including her peers. At the moment it’s not important to her to look the same, she likes colour! Let her explore what she likes and find her own way.

My dd was exactly the same, she wanted to wear what she liked. But she absolutely had a feel for what other people wore, if she was trying to dress up as a character for world book day or whatever she could do it all herself and get it spot on. But the clothes others wore she just found a bit boring.

She’s a teen now, and has a style all of her own, quirky but she gets a lot of compliments. She has no difficulty dressing up for different occasions, she is very definite about what she likes, very interested in fashion, but she doesn’t really follow “teen fashion”.

I love my 7yo's crazy clothing choices. All too soon she'll be a self conscious tween/teen. It's part of the innocence of childhood to throw clothes on in crazy combos.