15 year old daughter formal what to wear? Where to shop? Advice needed please

[buswheels]

Just that 15 year old is going to a school formal and needs a dress, I would be super grateful for advice about where to look and what to buy, not even sure if it should be long or short. Thanks.

Usually 15yos have a pretty clear idea themselves of what they want - what has she said?

I think she has an idea what she would like, colour etc I just have no idea where to shop for these things, am away from home and have limited time to do this before I am back at work.

i was hoping parents with teenage girls who had done this before would have some suggestions re shops.

If she has access to the internet, let her do the donkey work to save you time. Ask her to send you links to say six dresses so that you can consider them.

I do think it would be sensible for your daughter to do the looking. Isn’t she talking about all this with her friends? Won’t it depend what style tribe she’s part of? Does she even want something new from a shop, rather than Vinted or wherever?

If you or she really need advice from MN then you’ll need to give an idea of clothing size and budget limit.

She’s going as a guest so friends aren’t keen to discuss, she’s an 8-10, budget no idea, seriously not a clue is £100 too much or not enough? she could wear it several times if we get a nice one.

we need it by Friday so vinted, travel, opportunity to change mind etc are limited.

she is my only daughter and I havn’t bought an evening dress for 10 years so don’t have a clue where to even start!

ASOS is your friend - tell her to have a look on there - you can filter by sleeve length/colour/fit etc, they do overnight delivery and can return. Not a popular opinion on here but you can order a few for a try-on at home. They do brands as well as their own.

DD(14) prefers a jumpsuit to a dress, and hates stiff formal fabrics. She has a nice navy jersey jumpsuit (from Crew Clothing) that she wore with silver Converse to her cricket club dinner.

As you need it by Friday, Amazon may be a good place to start. If it is a formal dress she needs try the Ever Pretty Amazon store https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Ever-Pretty/

Check whether the others are tending to shorter or longer dresses.
I was really surprised at the change in fashion from DD1 to DD2.

I think you will be able to get good value in department stores at this time of year.

As an example this dress was on our short list. (Size 10) It will fit longer than the model unless your daughter is very tall.

www.phase-eight.com/product/velma-floral-dress-10008070106.html

Not very clear what a "school formal" is.... I think she needs to ask her friends what the vibe is. For Y11 prom, some of DD's friends wore long / slinky evening gowns in silky and lacy fabrics but others wore short informal summer dresses and others wore a DJ type trouser suit. Shoes varied from strappy heels to sandals to Converse!

Thanks heaps @everyone we actually got something in Zara. We just popped in on the way somewhere else and they had a gorgeous mid calf length dress for £25!

we found lots of other dresses just huge, so much material or so heavily patterned poor dd looked like a tablecloth!

just shoes now!