Where to buy non-bling girls clothes?!

[PassTheTwiglets]

DD is 8.5 and suddenly has no clothes left that fit. But I hate, hate, HATE shopping for her as I detest voirtually all the girls clothes for her age! Everything is diamante-covered, slogan-riddled, tarty awfulness. Where can I buy nice, plain clothes that don't cost a fortune? I like stuff like this and I hate stuff like this.

Even the basic places like M&S, Tesco, and so on have all this slogany, sparkly stuff - nowhere sells pretty, normal, basic clothes anymore!!! HELP!!!

Parkerrocks, TU only do nice clothes up to about age 7 - after that it's all bling and low-cut nonsense. They don't even do the plain 4-packs in this age! We used to get the majority of her day-to-day clothes from Sainsburys/Tescos etc. but there's nothing since she turned 8.

Passthetwigglets that's awful. At 8 they are still babies! Not looking forward to clothes shopping for DD when she gets bigger. Mind you some places do truly vile baby girl clothes too. I saw a top in next with a sequinned neckline-that's just what a 14 week old baby needs now isn't it?! Hope you find some nice clothes for your DD.

look in the boys department

seriously
if I ever take dd shopping, she steers straight for the boys department. She won't even look at the girls stuff, it is all so awful -tight, pink, sparkly. At least in her eyes it is awful.

Speaking as a mother, I think boys clothes are more practical, plainer and have a more comfortable fit on the whole. If you like her to look girly but not teenagey, maybe simple things from fruit of the loom or some other company like that - American Sports Shop I think is similar and just add pretty little things to her general appearance IYSWIM.

French have nice clothes for girls which are actually girls clothes and not tacky

Fatface is rather nice. As is Gap, Zara, some of H&M.... Although two of my DD went for the pink glitter option at 5, whilst my other DD prefers mario-cart T-shirts - equally awful.

Actually, I like charity shops because you get a wide variety of brands, some of which you'd never look at.

Sorry - I read the OP as saying your DD was 5 - I see she's 8.5.

frugi? I think they have a sale on their summer stuff at the moment which makes it a bit more affordable.

MrsvWoolf, I@d never hard of ilovegorgeous before but it's fabulous! That is exactly what I'm looking for. Muted colours, no garish patterns, pretty but not tarty... perfect! Just a shame it's so expensive! £19 for a t-shirt in the sale?! Madness.

Pumpkin Patch has nice clothes for little girls.

Have you tried Pumpkin Patch? They have a few things in their summer sale at the moment.

Petit Bateau?

Lovely breton-style t-shirt

I'm goign to France for the day next week so will have a look at Petit Bateau there.

Try and go to a (large) Monoprix as well - their own brand children's clothes are often very nice.

Been having the same problem myself; linky

Received 6 tshirts for dd which are just right from La redoute this week and they were all in the sale so £19 the lot.

I think that at La redoute they have a range of clothes from 3 (ish) to 12 years and an overlapping teen range from 7 or 8 to 15 years. This way they have a good range of basic clothes for all ages and some more high fashion stuff for those that want it.

Companies like next and M&S just do (fairly) nice stuff for girls up to 7-8 then it's all sparkles and tarty stuff.

Drives us mad, dd sees something she likes, only to look and find it doesn't come in her size.

Couldn't agree more with you OP

Sadly, I think we are forced to pay more for plain, non-tarty stuff.

To mitigate against extra expense I buy huge sizes and items that are good quality that will wash and wear over and over again (and can sometimes eventually sell) and buy colours that all go together. Am fortunate in that dd loves everything in blue and she doesn't need that much mufti clothing as she wears a school uniform.

I get dd's clothes from Boden (plain stuff that will go with everything, not flowery or over-sized spot designs) and these two shops:

here

and

here

Good luck!

Btw, there used to be a shop set up to accommodate this very need called Kidshouldbekids but it seems to have disappeared. Perhaps most buyers like the sparkly/tarty stuff???

There's also this German company

[[http://www.jako-o.com/shop/Clothing/group/5494/Clothing.g5494.0.html here] that does SOME nice clothing (particularly good for outerwear). Quality is good but colours can be a bit garish.

ooops, will try that link again

here

Dd1 has that blue gingham top you linked to .

We do: Boden sale, Joules sale, Gap, H&M, M&S (lots of horrible stuff to wade through to get to the nice bits though), Next (ditto), Monsoon (when we have vouchers for birthdays), Pumpkin Patch.

About twice a year I let them loose in Debenhams to indulge their love of bling, so the odd piece of sequinny tat does sneak in here and there, but not more than I can handle.

schroeder, that's interesting to read the replies to your thread!

stillchuckingit, I've caved and bought some bits from Boden (also from Landsend).