11 Plus Exams Forum

We are sadly very far from fashionable with big feet and gangly limbs in our house!

Dd won't wear anything but dead flat shoes, tops with collars and prefers trousers, 5 foot 9 and slim.

Any suggestions? North London Girls Indy style?!? What does it involve? We have not been provided a dress code, are in the middle of moving house, have no money left and hate clothes shopping.

Obviously no jeans ripped items high heels etc but how to avoid frumpy ?

It's a minefield and mum is of negative value except as credit card holder.

I would say Gap and Zara would be a good bet - quite androgynous and designed for a slim fit.

There really is not a separate style for girls from private schools.

If you saw a group of sixth form girls together I would be surprised if you could distinguish which school they attended.

New Look have some lovely clothes, there is really no need to overspend. My girls buy a lot of clothes online. I will check some names in my paypal account! DG

Try charity shops - I have got some great bargains for work.

Buy a few staples in advance - things that can mix & match like black trousers - then wait until she starts term before you buy too much. That way she might get some ideas of what she'd like to be wearing. Or make a friend who'd be happy to take her shopping

Our local Scope get frequent deliveries of brand new quality brand clothing. Definitely worth getting to know where to look locally.

Thank you all, I appreciate the support in my frumpy dungeon!!!

What's wrong with what she likes wearing? Her choice of clothes sounds totally appropriate to me. Just wear what she would normally wear. That's what they all do, within reason. It isn't a big deal; she'll see a whole range of clothing - most of it from Primark!

Guest55 wrote:Try charity shops - I have got some great bargains for work.

My DD buys a lot of stuff from the charity shops down the road. She always manages to find something that is really her. She also doesn't wear anything from places like hollister and has no interest in doing so.

Kingfisher wrote:What's wrong with what she likes wearing? Her choice of clothes sounds totally appropriate to me. Just wear what she would normally wear. That's what they all do, within reason. It isn't a big deal; she'll see a whole range of clothing - most of it from Primark!

Agree she shouldn't feel pressure to follow the herd or any such but some girls dont want to stand out so what makes them comfortable is being 'in' enough to blend.


Have you got an outlet in the vicinity? Freeport or McArthur Glen are good. Bicester is very expensive.
DD got better quality classic style basics with a few more 'trendy' tops from our local one when she was in 6th form. They had a formal dress code - easier in many ways.

Don't buy too much to start with - schools have an irritating habit of making arbitrary changes to non-uniform dress codes, so that an outfit that at the beginning of term is perfectly acceptable "office wear" is later redefined as unsuitable (DD suffered from this at her 6th form - particular styles of comfortable non-denim trousers that suited her (being short) were later deemed to be too close to jeans...Whereas friends in tiny skirts were ok). Often they seem to be clueless as to what is actually available for teenage girls at reasonable prices! After she left they imposed "suits" which IMHO looked absurd - yes it's good if they can dress up sometimes when necessary and know what is appropriate business wear in different environments, but not much use in the science lab for example....