Should I force DD to be fashionable?

I like my DD to be dressed in nice clothes and fairly matching outfits - but she has some choice too, after all she is a person - not my accessory!
Funnily enough, where I live artful clashing is way more fashionable than matchy matchy.
A friend of mine has a little girl with very strong ideas about what she will and won't wear and went through a phase where everything had to be stripy (and then it was spotty, or a certain colour) and everything she wore - including undies had to conform to that - and came up with some very interesting outfits!

I find much fashionable clothing for girls to be both impractical for playing and often also inappropriate for their age. I know there will be more pressure later to dress in a more 'grown up' way but for now I am very glad that my 7yo DD chooses boys trousers, shorts etc (but perhaps with a slightly more girlish top) and faces no pressure from friends (or their mums!) to dress in any other way. Perhaps that's because many of them have older brothers rather than sisters!

My dd is a bit of a clothes horse. She is almost 10 and always looks fab. Just rarely very conventional
When she was a toddler and started wanting to wear odd combinations or fancy dress clothes out and about I never stopped her. I do hear people saying to their dc of both sexes you can't wear that etc. but I always felt I was letting then express who they were by their choice of clothes.
Dd is starting to see pressure from other girls but she just thinks they are being silly. She likes what she likes and doesn't care if anyone else does or not.
Ds as well often dresses like he got dressed in the dark at a jumble sale and has at times gone shopping with me in a party dress or something else he thought looked or felt nice .
He's 7 and also doesn't give a stuff what people say. He is a hat man and has loads. He gets comments everywhere he goes in his hats and luckily all complimentary.

If they are comfortable and in weather activity appropriate clothing who am I to argue with them.

My DD is 5 and delights in the weirdest clothing combinations, it's a joy to behold. Ignore loopy woman.

Both my dds have worn 'interesting' outfits from time to time.

Dd1 has now reached an age (13) where she is starting to pay a little bit more attention to it, but she is still quite fussy that her clothes have to feel right and less interested in how they look.

Dd2 has just turned 3 and wears some right wierd and wonderful outfits because she chooses her clothes most days. So she generally opts for long sleeved top under a t shirt with jeans, but some of the colour combinations make me wince a bit. Then other days everything she wears has to 'match' in the sense that it's all pink, or all green, etc.

Wellies (with cars and buses on ) are the footwear of choice at all times and the current favourite coat is a dressing up outfit to make her look like a ladybird . If she's warm enough I don't really censor what she wears.

At any age kids should wear what they want as long as it's appropriate for the weather and whatever they are doing. Once they get to school age then maybe the occasional bit of guidance for eg wedding, funeral, great auntie's 80th birthday or whatever, but other than that FFS it's unimportant.

Woman sounds lime an idiot.let them make their own
Decisions.within reason and in accordance with weatheretc

I'm loving encouraging a sense of their own style in my DD's.

If they want to be fashionable that'll be of their doing - not mine.

But it won't be through flicking through masses of glossy magazines at home or by watching loads of celeb crap.

Incidentally I saw a young (9ish?) boy wearing a t-shirt saying ' my girlfriend is a super model' which I thought was deeply naff, my judgement was also influenced by the fact that he didn't want ds2 on his 'team' and kicked up a fuss.

fashionable? Have you seen the style hunter section of Grazia lately? The look de jour is somewhere between bag lady & strongly medicated.

ds2 likes to choose his own clothes and he likes them bright which makes him easier to spot, ds1 is just starting to show a need to stay under the radar. Occasionally people comment on ds2's clothes, especially the fairy dresses, he's 5 and is just starting to care.

But tbf we're talking more of fitting into a group here aren't we and for that purpose it's less about 'fashion' it's more about conforming.

tell the other woman that you are bringing up your daughter to think that fashion is for fools.

and let her make the most of the time in life when you can wear pinafores, bunches, loud colours and still look good!

My dd is 15 months and there is a pressure to dress her fashionably in some circles

I dress her in bright sometimes garish colours (hot pink cords with rainbow top anyone!) whereas a lot of girls her age are all in greys/creams etc.

I thought it was going to be about a teenage child! FIVE, ffs. Wear what you can play in!

DSs' trousers all have holes and patches and holes in patches. That's fashion. I told them some people buy jeans with holes in and they look and .

I think obviously your dd is fine to wear what she likes.

On the other hand I never chose what I wore as a child, had very few clothes and Mum just put out what was weather appropriate and I didn't give a stuff.

I think children choosing what to wear is a relatively new thing and reflects that they just have lots of clothes because clothes are cheaper and more readily available than they used to be. It doesn't particularly suggest free spirit to me.

However, I'm not interested in fashion, but I really hate clashing colours-sets my teeth on edge.I do talk about colour a lot with the kids when we're painting and drawing. If dd or ds asks me 'does this go' about stuff they're wearing I'm truthful and it's up to them if they change it..I insist on a change if they are wearing something inappropriate for the activity or the weather.

I buy all 6 year old dds clothes, but its up to her to pick what she wants to wear. Today she wore a party dress with a pair of jeans under and pink boots.
We went to an easter egg hunt in the park and she was the best dressed one there

My dd is 8 and dresses magnificently - things match but not the way they are meant to i.e on someone elses child the clothes would hang wrong or be weird looking but dd just has that look to last years christmas party she wore leapoard print wellys, red tights, a grey stripey jumper dress, beige furry gilet with a hairband with a massive butterfly on it - it sounds awful but god she looked incredible and also happy :)

She turned to me last week and said ''mum, the other girls in class like one direction but i don't want to, i like my own stuff i don't need to be just like them eh?'' My wee heart burst with pride!!

Don't conform as long as your dd is happy :)

Smudging

I love you

An aquaintance of mine has a 4 year old DD who is a typical 4 year old. The mum is very stylish and the little girl is always dressed in designer gear and looks dreadfully restricted.
FWIW I generally let DS1 choose what he wears. DS2, being 2, is a little more contrary, and needs some guidance to avoid wearing wellies in summer etc.
Your DD is developing her own sense of self, and that is fine.

DD was like your at 5. A year of school and "fashion" is now an issue. Clothes have to be from same shops as friends, and she copies what the girls in Years 3 and 4 wear.

So avoid all this while you still can!

I have a clashing 4 year old. Tbh I let her choose her own clothes from the supermarket, it kills an hour.

Life's easier, one less thing to argue about imo and she looks cute.

I think in a similar situation I might have laughed and appeared like I thought she was joking. Are you sure she wasnt?

A mum at a group I go to commented how 'differently' I dress DD. She followed that up with how she wants her DD to look fashionable now she's getting older. They are 6 months old!

I tried not to snort

hmm have a similar here too. I dont think you should be dictating to them what to wear always, and fwiw I would let dd off to a party wearing her choice of emsemble (within reason - I did draw the line at her togs and swim fins to go visiting her nana last week - but that was more because of the cold outside and in her nans house !
If it s clean fits and seasonally (ie weather and cold ) appropraite then I wouldnt do too much about it really.