Need a skirt suit for 16yo Dd. Sixth form. Struggling to find anything

[PossomInAPearTree]

Any suggestions of other shops to try?

So far online e have looked at ,Next, m&s, new look, H&M, Debenhams, John Lewis, Hobbs, ted baker, house of Fraser.

Rules are strict. Skirt must be knee length and not tight. Jacket must match skirt.

She wants a pink or cream suit! I have said it needs to be black or navy or grey. She says not black or navy.....she might consider grey if it's light grey!

Thought we wouldn't need it till sept but she has a taster day next month so need to get a suit this weekend really!

Has it got to be a suit, would a tailored dress and jacket do?

Re the taster day, I emailed the head of sixth form and said I objected to having to buy a jacket/suit before her GCSE grades were out and her place was confirmed. I was told a smart skirt and cardigan would be OK just for that day. Worth a try.

The other thing is shops often have much more choice on line, could you narrow it down to say three and order them to try or return?

My DD didn't wear a suit to her taster day either. I think she wore her uniform from her old school.

I think I might email and ask if a blouse and black skirt would be ok for the taster day.

Don't want to rock the boat too much as we're already missing the first few days of school (authorised though).

I'm sure most of the girls will be in something like this about that price point too.

I'd go with very cheap then buy when she knows what others wear or speak to housemistress. We spent a small fortune in Austen Reed and on traditional cotton shirts only to discover Mango was only acceptable suit and 'shirts' were not popular but synthetic blouses were the thing.

As voice of experience here, you will buy her a horrifically expensive suit then she will get to the school and realise everyone else is in H&M suits. She will eventually buy these and never wear the expensive suit again. I made this mistake not once but TWICE! The H& M ones are great though as they go in the wash - jackets included. DD2’s expensive Reiss suit was dry clean only and creased horribly so she never wore it after the first week.

Going to hit new look, primark and H&M tomorrow. And then shoes!

But good advice to buy cheap and see what others have after term starts. I will resist going in Hobbs.

Petite dd2 did 2yrs in a " suit code" school in a Sainsbury's collarless and buttonless jacket ( she has boobs and a tiny waist everything else looked ridiculous and a couple of m&s girls school skirts in the same material.

Short of getting a suit made for her we were stuffed.

Please don't get pink or cream. She won't ever wear it even if it's allowed ( here it would be seen as an underhand attempt to flaunt the rules to be honest. ).

" suit uniform " is really no different from skirts and blazers . They should really just say " lower school navy, 6th form black or grey" than we could go buy the hard wearing school suppliers stuff that goes from kids sizes to anout size 22 and everyone would find something to vaguely fit them.

Ive had the worst shopping trip of my life!

H&M. One suit. Dd liked it. No skirt in her size. H&M staff have no stock check facility for online or other stores and neither me nor the sales assistant could find the skirt online. So no suit.

New Look. Not a single suit in stock.

Ditto River Island and DP.

Debenhams. One trouser suit was the only suit in the whole store. We were at a massive shopping centre so some of the biggest stores out of London. Csnt believe only one suit!

M&s. A few suits, mainly trouser suits. One skirt suit Dd liked but again no skirt in her size. Took the jacket to the till. Woman finds the skirt online for me, only 4 in stock. I said quick get it. She presses buy and it says out of stock!

Next, one suit but a weird ruffle texture.

I then in the store found the skirt in a long length....even though website said that was sold out. Dd is petite anyway so this skirt is nearly ankle length rather than knee length but in desperation I've bought it. It has a pleat rather than a slit at the back so shortening it is beyond me....will have to pay to get it altered.

I work in a school with a very similar and seemingly strict dress code for sixth form. Vast majority of the girls actually wear a fashion dress with a fashion blazer, with chunky lace up shoes (like DMs), not office type shoes.

If she's got a reasonable length dress she likes, and you can get a nice nice enough blazer (try Oasis?) I'd send her in that for the taster days.

Ds's dilemma was even worse: sixth form taster days last December - so buy a suit etc which almost definitely won't fit a still growing 16 year old the following September!

I would give her £40 and get her to sort it herself as veteran mum and foster mum of teens.

Next outlet shop is your friend! Variety of jackets and skirts that match usually.

I bet the A4 of instructions was for girls. The boys can just rip the badge off the breast pocket of their blazer and pass muster!