Clothes for Middle School

[Kika]

My DD is "graduating" elementary school next week and starting middle school in August.
I want to get a jump on school shopping early so I don't have to get everything the last minute and all at once.
Currently she wears mostly Justice, Gap, Old Navy, some & Abercrombie Kids (when on sale! ) I think that this is the last year for Justice for her.
Any advice/suggestions?
She just mentioned to me that she wants "Tom's". I need to familiarize myself with what's cool for the 11-12 year olds nowadays. Ooh...I sound (and feel) old now! LOL

 

[bearpele]

I would buy one new outfit for school and then wait for her to go to school to see what everyone else is wearing. Great sales happen right after school starts up again were I live. My DD shops at the same place your daughter likes to shop at.

 

[Kika]

I would buy one new outfit for school and then wait for her to go to school to see what everyone else is wearing. Great sales happen right after school starts up again were I live.

Good call. I won't overbuy in that case. Just a few basics for the first week (shorts, sneakers (or tennis shoes as they are called here in FL ), a few tees, the "Tom's!" etc.) and then add on from there. Thanks!

 

[HeatherC]

Aeropostale is pretty popular around here with the middle school set. Luckily, it is more budget friendly...lots of coupons...than Abercrombie too.

I would also hold off till after school starts. Good sales and she will definitely wind up asking for whatever the other kids are wearing.

 

[Jenn]

My daughter just finished 6th grade. She is still into Justice, but she is very petite and still fits into a 10/12 there. She also loves P.S. (Aeropostale for kids). Tom's are popular here too, along with flip flops, sandals, and ballet flats. Boots in the colder weather. Vera Bradley is also big at her school - backpacks, purses, lunch boxes. Oh, and she and ALL her friends carry hipster style purses, small ones that basically hold a mirror, small brush, lip gloss and cellphone. Makeup varies at this age but she just wears lipgloss so far.

 

[firecracker725]

My DD is "graduating" elementary school next week and starting middle school in August.
I want to get a jump on school shopping early so I don't have to get everything the last minute and all at once.
Currently she wears mostly Justice, Gap, Old Navy, some & Abercrombie Kids (when on sale! ) I think that this is the last year for Justice for her.
Any advice/suggestions?
She just mentioned to me that she wants "Tom's". I need to familiarize myself with what's cool for the 11-12 year olds nowadays. Ooh...I sound (and feel) old now! LOL

No advice, just a bit of sympathy. I dread the days when my MIL can't just go buy everything in my girls' sizes at Carter's.

 

[Southernmiss]

My DD is "graduating" elementary school next week and starting middle school in August.
I want to get a jump on school shopping early so I don't have to get everything the last minute and all at once.
Currently she wears mostly Justice, Gap, Old Navy, some & Abercrombie Kids (when on sale! ) I think that this is the last year for Justice for her.
Any advice/suggestions?
She just mentioned to me that she wants "Tom's". I need to familiarize myself with what's cool for the 11-12 year olds nowadays. Ooh...I sound (and feel) old now! LOL

My dd is 11 and growing so much that I wouldn't buy school clothes just yet. I feel ya though as s he has outgrown girl sizes. We are having a hard time finding appropriate clothes for her--junior sizes are hoochie mamma and others are too old looking.

 

[goofyredraider]

We are in the same boat. After our trip in June, I'll start shipping. No more justice for her. She is fine with Bobs (Skechers version of Toms) but finding clothes to work is going to be a task...

 

[MomToOne]

Every school seems to have different hot things around here, and it's really hard to predict month to month what it will be. And some kids - like my DD (just turned 13) - don't necessarily want what everyone else has, they have their own sense of style. For example, DD likes all of the shirts with lace out right now, and hates Tshirts from Aeropostale. About the only shoes she likes to wear are Converse, not Toms, although Toms are very popular with many other kids. And it goes on and on.

So I wouldn't buy a whole lot right now, maybe just a few basics. While it is tempting to shop ahead to "save", you very well could end up spending a bunch of money on things your DD won't want to wear at all. Take it from me - even if she swears she LOVES it today, tomorrow she may very well HATE it. Ah, the joys of parenting!!

 

[scrapquitler]

My DD is "graduating" elementary school next week and starting middle school in August.
I want to get a jump on school shopping early so I don't have to get everything the last minute and all at once.
Currently she wears mostly Justice, Gap, Old Navy, some & Abercrombie Kids (when on sale! ) I think that this is the last year for Justice for her.
Any advice/suggestions?
She just mentioned to me that she wants "Tom's". I need to familiarize myself with what's cool for the 11-12 year olds nowadays. Ooh...I sound (and feel) old now! LOL

Best advice: WAIT.

Maybe buy one outfit for the first day and then have her wear things she already has the first week or so and take that week or two to scope out what the clothes situation is at the school. She may find that she wants to go more casual, or she might want more 'dressy' depending on what everyone else wears. Or she may come home and say "Abercrombi is SO out for middle school". No point shopping and getting it wrong.

I always wait until late Sept/early Oct. to do shopping anyway. Our schools are not air conditioned, so most kids end up wearing shorts/summer clothes the first few weeks while it's really hot, and by the end of Sept. all the 'back to school clothes' are on sale. If I bought them in August, they wouldn't wear them till October anyway, so why pay full price?

 

[pilesoflaundry]

Not to mention how much they usually grow over the summer. If I bought anything for my 11 year old now, it's highly unlikely it will fit by August.

I would wait also because trends change. I made that mistake last school year and once school started they didn't want certain things anymore. Middle school here requires uniforms so that makes my life easier for once.

 

[mjkacmom]

DO NOT stock up on clothes at this age. Most girls are going to start their growth spurt around this time, and it really plays havoc with their wardrobes! Buying too much can be a very expensive mistake.

I was told by the pediatrician that dd12 won't grow much again this year, as her body weight and fat are way too low for her to even start puberty. However, dd16 grew about 6 inches between the ages of 11 and 14, and her body shape totally changed, so even if something fit, it really didn't (had to move into the junior department for the smaller waists and bigger hips.

Usually there is a growth of at least 4 inches in just one year.

 

[NotUrsula]

I so love uniforms; it means that I don't have to worry about fashion trends at school, LOL. A half-dozen polos, two school sweatshirts, a couple of skirts, bermudas and trousers for cold weather and I'm good to go.

Summer is my bête noir; DD is super-picky about her casual clothes. In cold weather she needs very few casuals because she's in uniform 5 days a week, but summer is a bear. Brands she doesn't care about at this point: colors and details are her issues. I can't buy non-uniform items for her anymore without taking her along, or I end up returning most of it. I just dragged her to OUAC this week and bought 8 prs. of shorts, because she had outgrown most of last year's, and she insists on bermudas, which are a bit scarce in stores this year.

 

[NYCDiane]

Aeropostale
American Eagle
Gap


Those are the three top ones for middle school. I would just get her a couple of things and then let her see how everyone else is dressing.

 

[ktlm]

Around here, they seem to all "graduate" from Justice and into Rue21. I agree with the poster that says not to buy this early though because she is at the age where a growth spurt would be really common. DD is much younger, but I made the mistake of buying her shoes for the school year early. I bought a size up expecting her to grow into it by then. She had a major growth spurt and blew through the next size up in 2 weeks! Basically she totally skipped an entire shoe size her feet grew so fast...so I had a pile of shoes that she could not wear.

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

My daughter is just finishing her first year in middle school (6th grade). None of the girls will even step foot in Justice anymore! She primarily likes to shop at Aeropostale. I wouldn't spend too much until school starts. She will want to see what everyone else wears. I took my dd shopping for that first-day outfit, and then waited until she got a feel for what friends were wearing. One thing I've learned...don't dress too "girly". They want to look and dress like everyone else.

 

[Prose]

I agree with things said above - what's in can change so much from year to year. In 6th grade DD was all in to Aeropostale, in 7th grade I could hardly get her to wear them - she had moved on to Hollister. Sigh. Now she's starting to be more interested in vintage-y clothes.

In general, though, the middle school girls here wear skinny jeans, often rolled up a little. Miss Me is a popular brand but any knockoff with blinged-out pockets will do. Shoes are Sperry-type worn with no-show socks or athletic slides worn with mismatched socks. Right now the hot shirts are bright neon tee shirts or floaty sleeveless tops with lace pockets. Vera Bradley backpacks and ID lanyards are popular.

 

[pilesoflaundry]

I so love uniforms; it means that I don't have to worry about fashion trends at school, LOL. A half-dozen polos, two school sweatshirts, a couple of skirts, bermudas and trousers for cold weather and I'm good to go.

Summer is my bête noir; DD is super-picky about her casual clothes. In cold weather she needs very few casuals because she's in uniform 5 days a week, but summer is a bear. Brands she doesn't care about at this point: colors and details are her issues. I can't buy non-uniform items for her anymore without taking her along, or I end up returning most of it. I just dragged her to OUAC this week and bought 8 prs. of shorts, because she had outgrown most of last year's, and she insists on bermudas, which are a bit scarce in stores this year.

I love bermudas for my girls because they pass the school dress code test and they fit all year, the short or regular shorts often are too short if they grow an inch. I had trouble finding them too but did find some at old navy and jcp in the last week.

 

[Kika]

No advice, just a bit of sympathy. I dread the days when my MIL can't just go buy everything in my girls' sizes at Carter's.

Thanks. I just drove by the Carter's store the other day, and those were my thoughts. I miss those days!

 

[Kika]

...s he has outgrown girl sizes. We are having a hard time finding appropriate clothes for her--junior sizes are hoochie mamma and others are too old looking.

I know what you mean. They are truly at that in between/tween stage where they don't want to look like a kid, and we don't want them to look like adults. The length of some of the shorts that are out now are .