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?

Have you done your German trip yet?

There is a lovely French shop popped up in London recently - called Comptoir des Cotonniers - which does simple elegant stuff with a particular USP on "mothers & daughters" - so clothes which go together (not naff exact versions of each other, just sort of same feel). There is only a French website at the moment, but the shops list includes ones in several German cities - more coverage than in Britain.

(I should say, again for us CdesC is a check-the-sale-rail place - full prices similar to Jigsaw Junior.)

Comptoir des Cotonniers does a special mini-range for La Redoute, or certainly has done
My finest hour, sadly not relevant here, is a superb dark blue cord jacket for ds designed by one Isabelle Adjani , inexplicably knocked down to about 50p
Petit Bateau does NOT do online in the UK, ggrrr, and the Bluewater branch seems to have disappeared. Will just have to go back to Lille again, dommage

Or the outlet place in Bicester?

I remember very fondly a weekend in Lille, marred, just slightly, by having to fit in a visit to friends as well ...

I dont get how pink frilly stuff is seen as slaggy. I cant imagine anything more girly!I loved tammygirl when i was younger!

Slaggy would be hotpants, knee high boots. That sort of thing!

Just out of interset, what sort of clothes do you as mothers wear? And where do you shop?.

Think maybe im a slag

I don't think people are saying pink-frilly = slaggy. Just that they don't like (a) pink-frilly (whether or not slaggy) OR (b) slaggy (of whatever colour) OR (c) pink-frilly stuff that is also slaggy. That's all.

Obviously people have different ideas about what's nice. And their daughters do too. If you think your daughter looks nice, and she thinks she does too, then that's all that matters.

(I think it was my reference to H&M being "skully-hoodie" that first bothered you. That's just because my ds looks completely horrid in that sort of clothing - he's got a rather vague & dreamy naive sort of face & putting him in street-wise gear makes him looks as if he's being made fun of.)

OH I dont dress him in street gear!lol But i have got the odd skully top, which he likes. HE wears all sorts really. A lot of Next and H n M, asda, Ted Baker.

Dont have a dd but i like girly stuff and did as a child too. Have bought friens daughters Next stuff

As kids get older i dont think its reasonable to dress them in dull stuff or hand knitted cardis!

The Boden that everyone goes on about, well, i just dont get it. The baby stuff maybe, but not for older kids!

Just out of interest - on the JAKO stuff, anyone worked out the sizing so it's by ages?

jigsaw (may need a 2nd morgage though_

actally its not muce more than gap...tis lovely.

CHILD'S HEIGHT CHILD'S APPROXIMATE AGE
56 cms 0/3 months
62 cms 3/6 months
68 cms 6/9 or 6/12 months
74 cms 9/12 months
80 cms 12/18 months
86 cms 18/24 months
92 cms 2/3 years
98 cms 3/4 years
104 cms 4/5 years
110 cms 5/6 years
116 cms 6/7 years
122 cms 7/8 years
128 cms 8/9 years
134 cms 9/10 years
140 cms 10/11 years
146 cms 11/12 years
152 cms 12/13 years
164 cms 14/15 years
176 cms 16/17 years

thanks P&L

Gosh. On those sizes my 8yo ds is 13! I thought he would be normalish in Teutonic clothing.

Or is that girls' sizes?

But Jako-O do slightly odd combinations, so I think

92/98 2-3
104/110 4-5
116/122 6-7
128/134 8-9
140/146 10-11
152/158 12-13

with usual provisos about going up a size if in any doubt.

is your 8 y.o. really 152 cm tall? My 8 y.o. is 135cm, and she's one of the tallest in her class of 8/9 year olds.
I find that Jako-O is pretty much true to size.

I was going to suggest Joules - is it really too young?

Yes, i've got nice stuff for my 8 year old DD in next lately.

Recently, ahve bought for my DD:-

Dark blue skinny jeans from Primark with nice white belt.

GAP -

dark pink, cream and grey (i think) striped wool jumper, round neck

Cream marl (if thats a colour!) hooded sweatshirt with front pocket - GAP GIRL on front in diamonds (but not overly sparkly iykwim)

NEXT

Dusty rose coloured long sleeved crossover top, same top but in maroon

cream long sleeved top with grey/blue, avocado-ish and dark pink stripes, with a grey/blue vest type top which is worn over the top, with pockets

etc

Well, he is kind of normalish in Teutonic clothing, in that German clothes sizes don't even attempt to deal with ages -- if you are 152cm tall you buy a 152cm tall size. The conversion is just that a UK 8-9 year size garment (from most manufacturers) will be the same actual physical size as a German 128cm size garment. For all I know German 8-year-olds are all 150cm tall and going around in 152cm clothing .

Even among the boys, geekgirl? (Mine's a boy.) I'll measure him again but I've a feeling he used to be 152 cm & is significantly more now. He usually isn't quite the biggest in any gathering - there's usually someone a couple of hairs taller.

DD2 got some v nice skinny jeans (I know, I know but they actually look pretty cute) from M&S - only £7. she is wearing them with long cardies or flippy dresses over at the mo - and Converse.

well having said how marvellous the super skinny narrow fit H&M jeans are, I put them on DD on the weekend and she could wrap around 4" of excess material around her. Sigh.
She is superskinny and has legs like a giraffe - people actually laugh at how long they are - and I'm now getting worried that I'll never find another pair of jeans to fit her and she will be wearing age 7 skirts until she is 15 as they are the only things that don't fall down...

i do think 9 year olds in boden look overly stoopdi thoguh
like in those loon pants they make

hello coddy just typing you a long email!

Went into New Look at Bluewater yesterday and they do a 9-15 range which is surprisingly nice. DD thought so too. No rock chick stuff, no skulls and safety pins, just nice normal 9year old girl stuff, cropped jeans, long swingy t-shirts, long t-shirt dresses, ra-ra skirts and tshirts in florals and plains for the summer, (have I mentioned my holiday????? ), will be going back tomorrow to check out more closely now I have been paid ha ha!!!

I haven't read all the replies but dd1 is 9 but big for her age and mainly wears new look or next but for better fitting we tend to do size 10 clothes for new look, next, dorothy perkins and sometimes jane norman.