I have an 8 year old girl who I don't want to kit out in head to toe Boden, or conversely in lots of nylon black and pink swirly dresses with black leggings

[TheHonEnid]

am I doomed?

the one I linked crops up alot on here

yes - www.jako-o.de

but some of the stuff is quite 80's.

I like their colourful basics but they like putting motifs on everything (tacky motifs in many cases).

Their toys and games are great though (they stock Haba stuff too).

urgh, I went to next last week with my dad and we marvelled at the belt-sized black denim miniskirts and weird cropped t-shirts for 3 year olds - the stuff really wouldn't have looked amiss in a nightclub.

at bink!

Jako-o is here. They are very good for basics, though their 'designed' collections are more variable.

9 is a difficult age, tbh -- not quite big enough for small adult ranges, but too big for much of the nicer kids' stuff.

We've had success with most of the ones mentioned above: H&M individual pieces are nice; GAP ditto; Vertbaudet, DPAM, a few Boden bits, also Animal, Joe Browns, Matalan, M&S, even Peacocks sometimes. And Oxfam.

Also Petit Bateau do nice stuff in larger sizes these days, but ££.

I think you have to just have a semi-permanent eye out for reasonable gear and stock up when you find it.

I do struggle to find suitable clothes for dd 2.9 all awash in a sea of pink and lilac, it has its place but not for every item.
Boden does deliver M&S sometimes H&M

some of the jak-0 stuff looks ok

dont know about their copywriting though

Second Petit Bateau. Used to be worth the money if you bought large and wore & washed again and again but I think quality has gone down recently.

Have you looked at Cyrillus.com? I only buy from their shops so I can't vouch for their mail order service. There does seem to be a preponderance of pale pink and muddy brown this season though ...

has next ever had slaggy stuff?!

Cant imagine that with Next. It quite, well, normal for kids.

PPH - where do you like to shop for your dd in the States? (Which shops I mean, not which city!)

Next seems to have ploughed more energy into the kids wear this season than the womens.

I have a 12 year old. She has been shopping in H&M for a while now. She also like QS, and charity shops because she likes to be a bit "ecletic"

um... in the US... gap, children's place for basics, {{http://www.hannaandersson.com/ hannah andersson]] but I think she is getting too old for that now, crazy 8 has some nice stuff, Ralph Lauren, TOmmy Hilfiger, otherwise I also look in the children's sections of department stores like bloomingdales but that is really hit and miss. There is a lot of hooker-ish stuff in the designer brands as well sadly...

There is always Rachel Riley - there is a clearance at the moment. Look at the teen range - goes from age 10.

Difficult to know where to wear that, agree. But the velvet jeans (& cords, though none appear to be in sale) dd lives in.

bink, those rachel riley dresses are gorgeous

what are their delivery like? the sale prices are just about within reach, and dh likes dd to wear silks and stuff when going to wedding type places.
also, what about sixes

Zara and Gap are our favourites too. Next is generally vile and Debenhams stuff is pretty gruesome apart from the designer ranges, which tend to focus around party wear rather than normal day to day stuff so not much use.

M and S are occasionally okay; dd2 just got a lovely cardigan from there but a lot of it is rather too reminiscent of the Per Una "just how many flounces can we fit on it do you think, oh go on, shove another ribbon on" look.

H & M was awful last time I looked but their clothes for younger girls used to be really lovely.