JC Penney girls section; if you want some brands to start with, try Speechless or Bonnie Jean.

Rent a dress from Rent the Runway. You can go try on dresses in their georgetown shop.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Francesca's x 1000. I have a 12 yo as well, who happens to be extremely picky, but managed to find at least 3 dresses there that she really liked. They only sell dresses, and the staff is extremely helpful. I hope this helps!

These are horrible and inappropriate for a 12 yo.

+1.

Really? I only took a brief look at the site, and while I agree that some of the dresses are more mature or more casual than what OP is probably looking for, and a few are unattractive, Francesca's seems to have some cute and appropriate options. This, for example, is darling and would have been suitable for most of the weddings our family has recently been invited to.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Francesca's x 1000. I have a 12 yo as well, who happens to be extremely picky, but managed to find at least 3 dresses there that she really liked. They only sell dresses, and the staff is extremely helpful. I hope this helps!

These are horrible and inappropriate for a 12 yo.

+1.

Anonymous wrote:There are only a handful in their stock, but I saw some lovely size 12 dresses at Full of Beans in CCDC on Friday.

I doubt a girl who is 12 would wear a girl's size 12.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have any other reason to head up to NY/NJ areas, there are many tween/teen girl dress shops in those areas and you could make a stop. I, too, don't understand why there are so few of these shops in the DMV.

I take my DD to NY 2x for dress, shoe, and camp shopping. We make a weekend of it. What's really sad is that my parents moved here 50 yrs from NY. I remember making the trip to NY with my mom to go shopping as a kid.

Planning something similar for my daughter very soon - she has grown so much that nothing currently fits! Can you give me names of some shops and suggestions about where we can shop. We need school clothes and also a really nice dress for two school events.

Thanks

Anonymous wrote:Francesca's x 1000. I have a 12 yo as well, who happens to be extremely picky, but managed to find at least 3 dresses there that she really liked. They only sell dresses, and the staff is extremely helpful. I hope this helps!

These are horrible and inappropriate for a 12 yo.

I've found a couple dresses for my DD at Macy's.

Check out Full of Beans. I was in their recently and they had some great dresses for this age group.

Anonymous wrote:If you have any other reason to head up to NY/NJ areas, there are many tween/teen girl dress shops in those areas and you could make a stop. I, too, don't understand why there are so few of these shops in the DMV.

I take my DD to NY 2x for dress, shoe, and camp shopping. We make a weekend of it. What's really sad is that my parents moved here 50 yrs from NY. I remember making the trip to NY with my mom to go shopping as a kid.