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?

Message withdrawn

tigerlily in debenhams and that other range they do. vertbaudet, pumpkin patch, zara, jako-o, kids should be kids, their nibs, aztec

dpam is great. their website doesn't make it look very good though.

Have you looked in Fatface? someone told me there is nice stuff in there at the moment (probably not for my dd though who won't wear trousers).

I agree Boden is dull at the moment - I like the skinny jeans for dd1 (age 7), but it all seems the same as last year.

MinkVelvet - that sounds almost exactly like my dd2's weekend wear! She also has a couple of lovely velvet casual long-sleeved stripey dresses, loose and cosy, which she wears with tights and knee high boots (flat). Unfortunately Monsoon seem to have stopped doing these.

pph
zara in oxford

Enid
try Jigsaw Junior, they has luscious stuff in the Bicester outlet

Pumpkin Patch (House of Fraser locally or online), Matthew Williamson butterfly, Tigerlily (occasionally) and Monsoon - thats about it for us Plus Boden which she likes but often duplicates on mufty days and parties.

I have loads of big Zaras here and I think they, too, suffer from the H&M problem where an 8 year old is neither in the little girl's clothes or the bigger girl's clothes (which are normally either whore or angel ).

Having said that, dd and I went on a trip last week to get her clothes (as I realised she'd suddenly grown!) and we did end up with a skirt, T-shirt and dress from Zara but we had to really hunt for them! They had 2 lovely formal girls' dresses but there was no point getting them because we didn't need them.

I think some of the smaller independent shops are nicer at the moment but appreciate if you're not in shopping central that they're hard to find.

also antoni and alison in debenhams.

No way is Next child prossie!!

Just normal, girly stuff.

And my ds aged 8 loves skully stuff, dont think anything wrong with that?!

Ive just looked at Next to see if im mistaken. All i can see is cute little dresses and shorts. Have i gone mad?

What does everyone else see that i dont?

Next normally have two types of stuff - pinky girly and then more bright or dark funkier stuff.

I find next stuff fine.

gap

debenhams

Jigsaw

my two have Gap, H&M, Asda (you have to hunt through the crap though) and Next (ditto)

or BIL sends stuff from Australia

Next if ok for the 3 pack t-shirts, all plain, no writing on

we have a massive Zara for kids but the boys stuff is better than the girls

I find Next fine too, pointy. Think its great for girls and boys!

Buy loads for both my two.

do you have an Oilly (not sure of the spelliing)

can be a tad over the top on the colours (eg 17 on one top) but some stuff is lovely

pricey though (but we get 2 kids out of one top in this house)

And i like writing on ds1 tops sometimes. its funky!

well there is writing and writing though

squiggles, yes

Princess or Babe, no

we are due a clothes shop I think but dd1 is a major fusspot and dd2 just annoying in shops so I am putting it off

Oh dear. Am bracing self for the point when my skinny just-turned-7 outgrows H&M. Although I don't mind a bit of a child goth look, myself - the black skull and crossbones sweater is superb IMO, I do draw the line at child prostitutes.

I've just had a look at the Next site. I didn't find any child prostitute stuff but I didn't find a single thing I actually LIKED either (or that either dd would have liked). It all seemed to be pink and tracksuity or manky coloured and gypsy-ish.

Better stuff for younger girls.

you can oilily in tk maxx.