Lovely clothes for petite teen

[Popsandpip]

My DD aged 14 is attending a church celebration. She has to be nicely and modestly dressed. She lives in tiny shorts or tracksuit bottoms and tops from Brandy Melville and Subdued so this is new territory for her. She’s about 5’ 2” and very slender.

Mango Teen has some lovely outfits but she’s not interested.

The event is in the next couple of weeks so we’re running out of time. Can anyone help please? I was looking to go online with her tomorrow to order some options but I’m not seeing anything she’d even consider.

It’s a ceremony in a church followed by a lunch reception at a posh pub afterwards.

Teen Mango party wear for inspiration.

What about Hollister dresses? Some of the short ones might not be modest, but they've got some nice slip dresses which should look lovely.

They seem to be a popular brand with the teenagers I work with!

Next online go up to age 16. Although when I got DD something from there, she commented that she’d look like a ballerina going to a party!
How smart does it need to be? Long, floaty white linen skirts are in. Could she wear one of those with a t shirt in the same style as normal, just one which is waist length rather than cropped? And accept that it will then just live in her cupboard until she needs a similarly modest outfit (work experience perhaps?). Places like New Look or H&M have those long silky skirts which could be appropriate but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a teen in one.
My solution when we’ve had these sorts of situations is to say that I know it’s not her style so it’s a question of what is the most acceptable out of the available options, it’s not coming out of her clothing allowance, and I also tend to buy her a bonus tiny item of clothing which she will like too

Urban outfitters. Bang on trend, but they do actually do some nice dresses and skirts …..

What does she like OP? At 14 can’t she look online for clothes and choose something herself?

though the Hollister dresses are right up her street @HollyGolightly4they’re unsuitable. Essentially they’re tiny sun dresses and she needs something more elegant and modest than that.

It does need to be smart. This is a wedding celebration rather than just pitching up in casual styles.

14 is the hardest age to buy for, two young for a lot of styles and too small, but also wanting to look like an older teen and feeling like a young adult.
Mango teen is good size wise but you say she has rejected everything there. Zara can sometimes come up really small, the smallest adult woman sizes can be smaller at the waist than the teenage sizes, weirdly. So it’s worth looking for their XS.
What style would you both consider acceptable ? Or is it that standard mid teens thing where she doesn’t want to wear the kind of clothes necessary for the situation ? It can be hard finding something that is both appropriate for church in smartness, and satisfactory for a 14 year old used to a far more casual day to day style.

Would she wear something like this ? My dd is a very small dress size (she measures 31, 22, 34) and their size 4 can often be ok for her. https://www.nobodyschild.com/products/brown-frill-sleeve-layla-midi-dress-d253943brn

It comes in lots of colours, and they have other occasion wear dresses in a size 4.

Primark do XXS and do have some surprisingly decent smarter stuff at the higher end of their price range - the Edit collection for example. Or a skirt and top co-odd set? Might get more wear later. https://www.primark.com/en-gb/p/cotton-broderie-midi-skirt-white-991175331002

Perhaps search for jumpsuits rather than dresses? That was the compromise we ended up with with DD. And accept that any of the guests who have children older than than your DD or who remember being 14, realise what an impossible age it is for formal dressing.

Tbf I saw some of the select midi ones and thought they looked really quite nice- I didn't look at the backs and splits though so I take your point I got it wrong!

Thanks for everyone’s help. I showed her this thread and we explored all the options mentioned together. I managed to order her a few options from Mango Teen and Bershka in the end and we’ll see what suits. Fingers crossed!!