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Normal school uniform


Pups_mum

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I know this isn't exactly dance related, but I imagine a lot of our DD's are similar build,so I hope the mods will forgive me for being a bit off topic.

I'm struggling to find any ordinary white school blouses for 15 year old DD. All the ones that are her size in body and sleeve length seem to be massively wide and baggy in the body. Last year she had some from debenhams that were fitted in the body which fitted her much better but she's grown out of them and I can't seem to find the same type this year. There are plenty of fitted blouses with short sleeves and open collars, but she has to have long sleeves and a proper collar to wear a tie with.

We went to the Trafford Centre in Manchester yesterday and went in every shop that sold uniform to no avail. There were some in John Lewis but only in smaller sizes, I guess they may have bigger on their website. Several shops had "generous" or "wider fit" ranges but they looked at me like I was some kind of lunatic when I asked if there was a "narrow fit" range.

Does anyone have any ideas? We are spending the week after next in London whilst DD does the intensive exam course at the RAD so I can try the shops there.

On a more general point, this does annoy me rather. The government makes all these noises about being concerned about childhood obesity, and yet it is much easier to buy what is effectively an outsize school uniform than one for a slim girl. And DD isn't THAT thin, she fits an adult size 6. My sons are naturally skinny, especially the elder of the two, and I also find it difficult to dress them.

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I agree Pups_mum, I am also tired of clothes not fitting my tall-ish, slim DD. She isn't skinny, just petite framed but with 33" inside leg and a narrow waist it is very difficult to find trousers in particular that are long enough but not clown-like and to find tops that don't fall off her shoulders. I too am annoyed by the large range of clothes available for outsized children in comparison.

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There used to,be a shop called Long Tall Sally which might suit some taller people but don't remember how young they start. Have to go up to London now to see Bolshoi but can find out this for you.

British Home Stores in Oxford Street London may be able to help and of course Selfridges but looks like the big Mand S at the Marble Arch end might be of use too(next door to Selfridges).

Around here lots of people use Asda I think it's their George range but couldn't tell you whether will be on the large side or not!! Good luck anyway

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Long Tall Sally is in Chiltern Street W.1 so can't be far from Oxford Street. There's also one in Manchester in South King Street M2 this may not do very young people but worth looking on their website anyway!! Really must go now partner is yelling that I'm gong to miss the train if dont hurry up!!!!

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My 14 year old non dd is tall and skinny, so I always have a problem with school uniform, be it shirts, trousers and skirts! However, yesterday I bought her some Trutex shirts which are sized by chest and they fit just right. Still struggling with school skirts as she fits an age 10 around they waist, but then they are too short!

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Enjoy the Bolshoi, LinMM! I got my school blouses from New Look, as I am similar to your dd's: small frame and bust but long arms! Also, blouses from Asda are good- I think mine is age 11-12 (Im 16!) but it fits okay in the arms. I know its probably a cringey idea, but seeing as it is winter soon, are your dd's allowed to wear school cardigans- I was just thinking if a blouse fitted but was a bit short in the sleeves, a cardigan could conceal the sleeve problem!!!! Sorry if thats a really useless idea! ;)

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Thanks all. She isn't tall actually , she's rather short but does seem to have longish arms! I had forgotten trutex - I think I remember having them when I was at school myself. I shall look for them and see if they are any better. She doesn't have a jumper or cardigan, just a blazer over her blouse so it does look scruffy if the blouses are too baggy. Thankfully the 6th form uniform does have a jumper so it will be better next year.

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I have a similar problem with my dd , can never get clothes that fit right, especially jeans. If they are ok for length we could fit about three of her in them, Next jeans are a particularly poor fit for this reason. I have found that we get a better fit for her by going 'down market' the cheap shops that are not so generously cut do Jeans that tend to be a bit narrower. Last year I managed to find some school shirts that fitted well in matalan although they had three quarter length ballerina style sleeves. 

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I was going to do a similar post myself! Last years school skirts came from M&S as they had adjustable waists, the shirts came from the uniform shop and are fitted by collar size.I think trutex. Generally though, we are having great problems at the moment getting any clothes at all. My dd is small, slight and 13 nearly. She is not tall enough for an adult 6 and most still drown her in the body. New Look occasionally fits but seems to have a limited choice locally. And then the clothes that might fit are too young in style. it seems to me that the choice for the young teen years seems limited unless you are already adult height and build.I was going to ask if anyone had any suggestions but it sounds as if we are all struggling. Where do your dds shop for those occasional hours when they are not in leotards?

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For school uniform, we always use John Lewis. I usually have to go down an age/size in school blouses (in fact dd is still in age 12 and even age 11 still fits and she's 14!) but also their school skirts come in various lengths and tiny waists.

 

For "ordinary" clothes she now likes Hollister (XS or S), H&M for leggings (age 14) and long legged jeans which are tiny on the waist, Top Shop size 6, and New Look (various teen sizes as everything comes up different, and/or size 6 dresses.

 

John Lewis on Oxford Street has a school uniform dept if you're in London.

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Thanks. I think I shall try John Lewis whilst we are in London. The Manchester store had a disappointingly small range of schoolwear, considering it's such a big shop. I did pick up a couple of blouses in Asda yesterday (thanks for the suggestion swanprincess) that are nicely fitted in the body, but they are 3/4 sleeves which technically she is not allowed. However since she is also not allowed to take her blazer off in class I can't see how anyone is going to notice so I thought they would be better than nothing, especially at thebargain price of £5.50 for 2!

It does seem to be a problem for quite a lot of us though. I bet there is a business opportunity there - maybe one of the dance wear companies needs to start making school uniform?

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You can order from John Lewis online and do a "click and collect"; try things on in store and return what you don't want there and then! We've done that before and it works really well.

 

I remember dd had a pack Asda school shirts when she was little (they had to have proper collars too) but they didn't wash anywhere near as well as the more expensive ones. :-(

 

Edited to add: You could perhaps order these to try on - http://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-girls'-long-sleeved-fitted-school-blouse-white/p314567

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I have a similar problem with my dd , can never get clothes that fit right, especially jeans. If they are ok for length we could fit about three of her in them, Next jeans are a particularly poor fit for this reason. I have found that we get a better fit for her by going 'down market' the cheap shops that are not so generously cut do Jeans that tend to be a bit narrower. Last year I managed to find some school shirts that fitted well in matalan although they had three quarter length ballerina style sleeves. 

 

Primark jeans are slim fitting, they're about the only ones that my dd wears (leggings and tracksuit bottoms are good too), she's an adult 6/8. Everyone else's jeans are either miles too short or are the right leg length but massive round the waist and behind.

 

She also likes H & M for clothes, and M & Co, and we usually get school trousers in Peacocks.

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Clothes shopping in our house is such an issue, tops are fine but trying to find anything to fit the bottom half is a nightmare. My dd is 13 but has the waist and hips to fit a 6-7 year old but is average height, not skinny just a very narrow build. Skinny jeans are always baggy and leotards are always baggy at the back and anything with an adjustable waist just looks like a big bulge of material at the front. Peacocks occasionally fit, primark legging have to be taken in at the waist or in winter worn with long boots to cover the fact we've had to buy a younger age and they are too short, next she fits age 6-7 in waist, Its normally a case of wandering round looking for hours. Most shops now seem to cater for the bigger child. Very frustrating and I can fully sympathise with all you other parents who have the same problem.

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Both of my dds were really slim. My eldest was reported to the school nurse - but not us - as anorexic. She wasn't and never has been. I was livid that we had been sidelined like this and yet the school was busy gossiping about our family. She was in the lowest percentile for her age group and buying clothes for her was a nightmare. She is now 5'4" and a size 12.

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You know what, Ballet co-ers? The only clothes we could ever find were for Taxi's "fat lumps" when my dds were young and I am sure things haven't changed much either. It didn't console my DDS much, though.

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At 18 I still fit age 12 clothes and may have a bikini that must be at least 8 years old and age 8 that fits, crazy! Sizing is really stupid, my mum always struggled to find clothes to fit and I had the same problem with jeans, too short and fit round the waist or too big and the right length. Hollister jeans are expensive but come in very small sizes btw :)

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Thanks. I think I shall try John Lewis whilst we are in London. The Manchester store had a disappointingly small range of schoolwear, considering it's such a big shop. I did pick up a couple of blouses in Asda yesterday (thanks for the suggestion swanprincess) that are nicely fitted in the body, but they are 3/4 sleeves which technically she is not allowed. However since she is also not allowed to take her blazer off in class I can't see how anyone is going to notice so I thought they would be better than nothing, especially at thebargain price of £5.50 for 2!

It does seem to be a problem for quite a lot of us though. I bet there is a business opportunity there - maybe one of the dance wear companies needs to start making school uniform?

I have the exact same problem Pups Mum and have purchased the short sleeve range in Asda which my daughter is allowed.  Although they are a little baggy, they seem to fit better than others and wash beautifully for the bargain price of £5.00 for 2.  School uniform shopping is stressful for those of us with petite daughters with long legs!

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Yes, I've just had an interesting meeting with DD's Head Teacher who had a problem with the length of her skirt - new skirt for the start of the new term (our schools started back last week).

 

DD is 13, 4' 8" and can fit into age 8 clothes for the waist and hips (same as the majority of our children).

 

Her new skirts (which we spent an age finding) sit just at the top of her knee cap are proper school skirts with a couple of box pleats - she wears her school jumper or blazer at all times as she wants to hide the fact that her skirt has had to be pulled in by AT LEAST 6" at the waist due to the size that we had to buy to get the correct length.

 

She has proper sturdy school shoes (similar to Dr Marten Mary Jane style - as she needs to wear her orthoptics) and wears black opaque tights every day - without being too biased I have to say she looks really smart every day and entirely appropriately dressed for school.  (Many people comment that she always looks so smart and sensibly dressed and they wish they could get their daughters to dress the same way for school.)

 

So HT had pulled her aside after her years assembly yesterday morning and asked her if she thought her skirt was an acceptable length for school.  DD replied that yes she did think so as we had spent a long time finding one that was the 'proper' length.  HT replied that she thought it was 'far too short' and that she would like DD to do something about it before she saw her again.

 

DD came home last night and told me about their encounter - red rag to a bull is the only way to describe my reaction!! :angry:

 

So this morning I took DD to school and waited with her to speak to the HT.  DD was wearing the same style of skirt again.  I asked her what she thought was wrong with the skirt stating that as far as I'm concerned it was modest and smart.  She felt it was just a little on the short side.

 

Now at this point I almost choked with laughter as HT (who is not a large woman, but is certainly not as slim as she once was - or indeed was when she bought the suit she was wearing today!) was wearing a skirt that had shifted up while she was sitting to well above her knee - meanwhile DD and I were sitting quite comfortably with our very conservative lenght skirts covering our knees completely. ;)

 

What I did instead was agree that there are many girls who wear skirts which are too short however I had to diasgree with her in respect of DD's as I most certainly would not send her out (school or otherwise) in something which was not appropriate to both her age and the enviornment that was going to be in.  I also pointed out that DD would never wear her school skirt with anything other than opaque tights which I was sure she would agree looked very smart.  I explained the challenges we had in finding her something that was acceptable and DD actually showed her the amount of excess material that was at her waist to demonstrate the lengths (no pun intended) that we'd gone to in our search for proper school skirts.

 

Needless to say she did back down - and when we were leaving her office there were a few girls walking by at the time with significantly shorter skirts - I made a point of commenting that perhaps those where the girls she should be speaking to rather than DD.  She did acknowledge this and apologised to DD.

 

Both Schools and manufacturers have to realise that children come in all shapes and sizes and despite our efforts as parents we simply can't always get the 100% perfect solution to the uniform issue.  We have to find ways to meet it as best we can without our children looking like sacks tied in the middle.

 

We actually tried to get our school to introduce a kilt for the girls as this is far easier to regulate what everyone is wearing and lasts far longer than a traditional school skirt - but the same HT felt it was a bit much.

 

Sorry for the rant - but I'm only just calming down now that I've typed this out!!!!! 

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You have my complete sympathy ballettaxi - dd is 5'6 now but still has a 23" waist. After an extensive search for the right colour navy box pleat skirt that was below the knee and didn't fall off the waist, I gave up and wrote a letter for dd's Head of Year (who, mercifully, is an absolute love). Dd keeps a copy in her bag and simply produces it as and when she is subject to a uniform check.

 

I think once the teacher in question knows the reasoning and can see that the waistband isn't rolled over umpteen times, there's no problem - thank goodness!

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If you're still looking just seen these on the gap website http://m.gap.co.uk/product.html?dn=gp000146096000&dv=0&shopid=0&pdn=gc83829

It says 'slim fit' & they do look quite slim in the pic. I have the same problems with my little one, although she still wears pinafores so not such a problem! We had a 'long' size skirt in a younger age from John Lewis to accommodate the small waist but I can't find the different fittings in our store or on the website, has anyone seen th this year?

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There certainly is a gap in the market for petite-framed - with correspondingly tiny waist, hips and bottom - short bodied and yet ludicrously long legged (DD's inside leg is 33") children, not only for school uniforms but also for ordinary clothes. Unfortunately for us, they are far outnumbered by the larger and shorter limbed children, so I suspect we will simply have to continue to hunt high and low and to become tiger mothers (inspired by ballettaxi - I laughed at the image of your DD's poor head teacher ;-)) when required!

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