<p>What types of shirts, pants, dresses/shirts, shoes and jackets do 9th grade girls wear? What are some popular stores? Thanks,
-Sara</p>
<p>I have boys, but I do have boarding school nieces. They love Gap, J Crew, Brooks Brothers (on sale!) and some pieces from Sundance and Garnet Hill. For shoes they seem to like old school Frye boots, mocs/ sperry, LL Bean hunting boots/shoes and <em>Stubbs and Wooton (</em>their moms are absolutely crazy for buying these shoes- but I guess they last forever and are popular. I couldn’t do it…). Warm fall term days and Spring term they always wear nice flip flops. </p>
<p>I’ve noticed the girls tend to go with only a few solid skirts or pants and add color via a shirt, cardigan or pullover- which seems economical. They also wear turtlenecks, nice t-shirts, botton down shirts and some nice peasant blouses, too. Each has a navy blazer and patagonia outerwear. These girls are preppy, but very natural and low key- and very, very outdoors. I know their moms just bought a lot of clothes for next year- online sales are the best!</p>
<p>They keep their wardrobe simple, travel light and always look great! Not sure this helps, but good luck!</p>
<p>I forgot the flats- they buy them everywhere, but seem to like J Crew and Garnet Hill.</p>
<p>Use the search tool as there are NUMEROUS threads on this topic.</p>
<p>While I have dozens of brands and tips I could and have passed along via the forum, my current POV is there are 3 things that matter, in this order — A) Is it in dress code?; B) Can your parents afford it?; C) Do you like it?</p>
<p>I think B) is CRITICAL, as it makes no sense to aspire to own a $198 J. Crew blazer (as cool and as useful as that staple might be) if that isn’t in your parents’ budget.</p>
<p>If there are H&M or Joe Fresh stores near you, check them out…we’ve had good success getting stuff at these shops that looks smart and at prices that are considerably less than J. Crew.</p>
<p>Hard to say since the dress codes can vary from BS to BS. But there are a few items for girls that I think are pretty standard:</p>
<ul>
<li>cardigan sweaters in a variety of colors ( J Crew has plenty but so does
every major Dept. Store.)</li>
<li>quilted jacket for late fall/early spring </li>
<li>hooded rain jacket (think we did the basic LL Bean variety)</li>
<li>Hunter Rain Boots - online or any Dept. Store</li>
<li>Sperrys - online or any Dept. Store</li>
<li>yoga pants for lounging around dorm/library </li>
<li>pull over fleece - see a lot of North Face and Columbia</li>
</ul>
<p>Hey! I’m going to be a 9th grade girl at Hotchkiss next year too! First, check out the hotchkiss Lookbook on tumblr or Facebook. If you don’t get an idea of what people wear from the pictures, you can ask the students who run it any questions. Anyways, I’m bringing mostly skirts and dresses for school time. It seems like if you wear a skirt you don’t have to wear that nice of a shirt but Im bringing a lot of nicer tops anyway. Maxi skirts and dresses are popular, but girls also wear a lot of bodycon skirts. Any pants besides jeans or leggings work unless you wear a skirt over the leggings. Popular school time brands are J Crew, forever 21, H and M, and free people. People also wear Lilly Pulitzer and Barbour. Nothing too flashy and big showy brand logos are kinda frowned upon. For after school and weekends you just want to be comfortable. PINK or lululemon yoga pants are good (or just regular leggings). A lot of people wear north face fleeces. I’m bringing a couple pairs of jeans and a lot of graphic tees for after school, and a lot of less nice tops that aren’t really fit for the dress code. (That kind of shirt is what most of my closet is made up of right now!) Short shorts are worn outside of classrooms in spring, too. In terms of shoes girls wear sandals or rainbow flip flops in the spring, tall boots or combat boots in the fall/winter, and sperrys year round. Hunter rain boots are also popular.
Before you go crazy buying things though, a revision to the dress code is being considered. They might make changes to make it less formal. So I’m going to wait and see what they say about the possible changes for next year before I start buying too much. If you want you can PM me and I’ll send a complete list of clothes I intend to pack for next year (assuming the dress code stays the same). I’m excited to meet you!</p>
<p>Hey I’m going into Hotchkiss next year as a lower mid and my revisit host was telling me that chinos are really popular because they aren’t jeans, but look just like them. I got a couple pairs from jcp for about 40 dollars so it was a good deal. However she also told me that a lot of people where colored jeans because you can’t tell if they are or aren’t jeans ,but take that however you’d like. I also went shopping at Express because it had a lot of nice tops and skirts.In fact if you consider shopping at Express right now they are having a 40% off everything sale :). Dresses seem to be an absolute necessity because they are an all-weather type of clothing for Hotchkiss girls. Sperrys, Hunters, and Sam Edelman sandals seemed to be really popular. For jackets patagonia seemed to be a popular brand too. Now mind you patagonias are expensive, but they last a long time if you treat them right so I think its a good investment. Blazers, blazers, blazers! Bring them, they come in handy especially if you are going for the preppy look. I bought multiple blazers in black, blue, yellow, pink, and white just so I have one to go with everything(2 from jcp 2 from ann taylor and 1 from express in total they were about 100 dollars it was a good deal). Sweaters are pretty important too, mainly to keep you warm on chilly fall days, but also to cover the straps of your dress if they are too thin. If you are looking for brands specifically vineyard vines is really popular and I plan to get a few items from them in the future. Hope this helps let me know if you have any questions!</p>
<p>Good info—thx to all!!</p>