In search of stylish, but modest, clothing for 12 year old girl

[Anonymous]

My daughter loves Hollister and American Eagle and we’ve been able to find a few things there, but I really miss the days of Tea collection dresses and Hannah Andersson! The stores seem to be full of distressed jeans, super short shorts and crop tops. Am I the only one who would rather her daughter not show so much skin? Where can we find cute, stylish clothes that are a little more modest?

[Anonymous]

Boden girls and teen

[Anonymous]

You can still get Tea Collection. Also Osh Kosh/Carter’s has some good options for tweens, Gap, Stitch fix kids, Janie and Jack, Old Navy, Zulily, vineyard vines…

[Anonymous]

My daughters (now age 14 and 16) adopted an athleisure look that was both on-trend and modest. Lots of T-shirts, hoodies, leggings, gym shorts. We did most of our shopping at Old Navy, Target, American Eagle. On rare occasions when they had to dress up, they usually wore a plain sundress or cotton jumpsuit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughters (now age 14 and 16) adopted an athleisure look that was both on-trend and modest. Lots of T-shirts, hoodies, leggings, gym shorts. We did most of our shopping at Old Navy, Target, American Eagle. On rare occasions when they had to dress up, they usually wore a plain sundress or cotton jumpsuit.

Same. My 12 year old has been all athleisure for about two years now. Like PP, lots of Old Navy and Target and also some sporty clothes from Dick's and Marshall's. There are a lot of cropped tops out there, which she doesn't like and so we usually get her a size up. She's tiny but has long legs for her height, so her shorts are often pretty short if they fit her at the waist. That doesn't really bother either of us.

[Anonymous]

Agree on the athleisure front for my 12yo with a heavy rotation of things we get at Old Navy. For nicer clothes, I've had success with dresses and cute jumpsuits at Dillard's & Bloomingdales. For casual shorts & tops, some Vineyard Vines, Target, Dillard's and H&M. Also good success at some local consignment stores - we stop by Growing Years in Kensington regularly and I've found some nice European label clothes that have been well-made and more modest. It feels like a lot of effort though to find cute "normal" things for this tween age!

[Anonymous]

It's out there at most stores, you just have to comb through all the inappropriate stuff. We find longer length, non-ripped shorts at H&M, Zara, and Gap regularly. My 11 year old DD just got a bunch of pairs of these shorts. She's 5 feet tall and they aren't short at all. https://www2.hm.com/en_us/productpage.1037610002.html

Tops can be harder, but it's not impossible. https://www2.hm.com/en_us/productpage.1028246001.html
https://www2.hm.com/en_us/productpage.1040579003.html

Oh, and don't go Boden and Tea, those are babyish for her age. Most kids in 6-7th grade aren't wearing these brands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's out there at most stores, you just have to comb through all the inappropriate stuff. We find longer length, non-ripped shorts at H&M, Zara, and Gap regularly. My 11 year old DD just got a bunch of pairs of these shorts. She's 5 feet tall and they aren't short at all. https://www2.hm.com/en_us/productpage.1037610002.html

Tops can be harder, but it's not impossible. https://www2.hm.com/en_us/productpage.1028246001.html
https://www2.hm.com/en_us/productpage.1040579003.html

Oh, and don't go Boden and Tea, those are babyish for her age. Most kids in 6-7th grade aren't wearing these brands.

We love these shorts too - not short. https://www2.hm.com/en_us/productpage.1022212001.html

[Anonymous]

bloomingdales kids section has great and largely modest clothes for girls--very fashionable dresses, jeans, sweatsuit outfit type things..

[Anonymous]

I am of the mindset that you should let them show off their flat stomachs while they still can!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's out there at most stores, you just have to comb through all the inappropriate stuff. We find longer length, non-ripped shorts at H&M, Zara, and Gap regularly. My 11 year old DD just got a bunch of pairs of these shorts. She's 5 feet tall and they aren't short at all. https://www2.hm.com/en_us/productpage.1037610002.html

Tops can be harder, but it's not impossible. https://www2.hm.com/en_us/productpage.1028246001.html
https://www2.hm.com/en_us/productpage.1040579003.html

Oh, and don't go Boden and Tea, those are babyish for her age. Most kids in 6-7th grade aren't wearing these brands.

+2 Boden or Tea for a 12 year old is not stylish. It is weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am of the mindset that you should let them show off their flat stomachs while they still can!

Go away!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter loves Hollister and American Eagle and we’ve been able to find a few things there, but I really miss the days of Tea collection dresses and Hannah Andersson! The stores seem to be full of distressed jeans, super short shorts and crop tops. Am I the only one who would rather her daughter not show so much skin? Where can we find cute, stylish clothes that are a little more modest?

Stop being ridiculous. They are in middle school, not elementary school. Every decade has clothes parents are scared of and every decade teens still wear them. The fact that you are judging your own child based on her clothing choices is the saddest part in all of this. Baggy distressed high waisted mom jeans with a baggy crop top is probably more innocent than anything you wore in middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am of the mindset that you should let them show off their flat stomachs while they still can!

+1

Do they not wear 2 pieces for swimming? I mean look at the late 90's style with tight jeans that showed off their butt crack along with a tight low chest crop top to match. The styles now are so modest. If they want to show off 1-2 inches of their stomach, who cares. Can we get to a place where clothes is just a form of expression and not where boomers (who wore 10x worse) judge a girl based on her clothes. Do better parents!

[Anonymous]

I think one point is that a lot of girls don’t want to dress this way and yet are being forced into it by the lack of choice in the fashion industry. My kid definitely is not searching out ultra short shorts and would really prefer to avoid ripped stuff as the shredded threads are actually really irritated/uncomfortable. OP is asking for options, which is fine. I agree we shouldn’t have to go to 8 stores to find the one t shirt at each that is NOT cropped. We found one at GAp and my kid was saying t me that she wished it came in more colors.