'Prom' outfit for 12 year old

[beancounting]

DD's school has a Year 8 leavers' prom (middle school) coming up and while it's fortunately not the big deal that I gather the Year 11 version can be, she does want to dress up. The problem is that she has no idea what sort of thing she wants (she's not generally that into clothes) and I'm finding it hard to narrow down our search. She is small for her age and has a very slim boyish shape so a lot of the dresses I can find in her size seem too young.

She quite likes the idea of wearing converse or similar: are there some styles that would work better with trainers?

Any ideas on styles I can look for or shops to try would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Is she adamant she wants to wear a dress?

Or would she maybe feel more comfortable wearing a jumpsuit of a dressier type? Any of these would look great with Converse/metallic sneakers.

A few streaks in hair of (wash out!) silver or gold hairspray?

eg

https://www.rococlothing.co.uk/girls-grey-party-jumpsuit-brooke/

https://www.rococlothing.co.uk/girls-black-tuxedo-suit-lennox-2/
(13 year old niece wore this to a party, but with a satiny vest top rather than white shirt. All 3 items will get plenty of future wear individually)

https://www.next.co.uk/style/LS272304/P86973#P86973

https://www.next.co.uk/style/ls361863/q34189#q34189

https://www.next.co.uk/style/ls127625/p57221#p57221

(maybe similar to last three are available, but in better fabric?!)

My dd wore a dress from Quiz to her year six 'prom'. Not a long dress, with converse.

I go to a lot of big parties where there are 12 year old girls who all seem to wear white trainers and short, tight, stretchy dresses. One little girl at the last party wore leggings and a fancy top. Personally I hate dresses and go for jumpsuits or trousers and a fancy top.

What about looking at some dance shops? Girls ballroom dancing can be quite prom like.

https://www.fruugo.co.uk/dance-dresses-skirts-costumes/a-499979#

DD1 had a dressed up event to go to at a similar age and was then similarly petite and slender, just about in an adult 4, which would sometimes be too large. Long dresses were difficult as she was only 4'11" and they would swamp her. She ended up in a fitted short white strappy dress with lace effect over the fabric, and sandals with a small heel. It looked suitably dressed up and she looked great, even though most were in long prom type dresses.

@OP try here Dresses & Jumpsuits for Girls – Chi Chi London (chichiclothing.com)

My DD will be in a little jersey dress from Hollister (with cycle shorts under as it is a bit short) plus trainers of some sort. She really didn't want something more formal. Some of her friends are going for longer dresses but lots are doing short dresses too.
In terms of footwear they all seem to be going for trainers / converse or really clunky flat sandals (that look like hideous orthotics).

How tiny is she? I'd go for a jumpsuit or a skater style dress with colourful converse at that age. ASOS has a massive petite range but she might still be a bit small for that, but something like this might be age appropriately dressy, or this is available in a size 2.

Sparkly converse, question is I suppose is she old enough for that to look cute rather than babyish.

Skater dress or jumpsuit with converse sounds ideal.
New look and next have nice bits in and budget friendly too.
I agree with PP suggestion of colour in hair though, you could just buy hair chalk if not wanting to use a spray

I’d get her to have a chat with her friends to see what they’re wearing so you have an idea of the sort of thing to look for.

Some of the suggestions above are lovely but might be a bit young for 12-13 year olds, by that age I think most girls want something more grownup.

I’d probably go for something simple like this: https://www.newlook.com/uk/girls/girls-clothing/girls-dresses/girls-black-textured-strappy-mini-smock-dress/p/869581101 or this https://shop.mango.com/gb/teen/dresses-and-jumpsuits/striped-long-dress_57050124.html and then let her choose some accessories, jewelry and a couple of makeup items/nail polish to go with it.

Thanks all, some great ideas here that I'll look through with her tonight. I personally love the idea of a jumpsuit but I think she is keen on a dress. I'll try and persuade her to talk to her friends as well. I know at least one of them is going for short/tight but I don't think that would suit DD as she doesn't have much shape yet. She might be ok in a size 4 if the brand comes up small but she is probably too short for a long dress in adult sizes (about 145cm).

What about H&M divided which is for teenagers.

www2.hm.com/en_gb/divided/shop-by-product/dresses.html?sort=stock&image-size=small&image=model&offset=0&page-size=72

We're in just the same boat with small/slim 13 year old dd - all the dresses that fit her seem too 'young' for her. In the end we've gone for a second hand adults skater-style dress and getting it altered to fit by the local dressmaker - might be an option to consider?

My dd was quite tiny and boyish for hers and went with a skater style dress with a sparkly / sequin top half and a tulle underskirt. Navy blue. She looked lovely! And very young compared to the stilettos and fake tan "pageant" looks some of the other girls chose. We're in Scotland so they were all 11 at the time, but she didn't look out of place. Got the dress from Next.

I think looks lovely:

Older Girls Floral Embroidered Midi Dress in Pink – Chi Chi London (chichiclothing.com)

Playsuit or skort so they can run and muck about without worrying!

Judging by the Facebook pictures I see of girls this age at parties, most of the suggestions above are too young. She will not want anything princess like, floaty etc. They all seem to wear short tight black dresses with trainers/converse.

The end of Year 8 is quite grown-up in a lot of ways. DD is this age and wouldn't wear a dress but would wear a jumpsuit/playsuit with Converse.
Some cooler girls in her year wear the tight dresses and white trainers, fake tan, long swishy hair, make-up. At this age, they have usually started to develop their own style a bit?

Dd (12) wore something like this recently to a couple of parties with black converse hi tops

The vast majority of her friends wore skin tight mini dresses tbh but Dd is a bit self conscious and I'm not keen