I personally have an issue with fashion-plates with way beyond their budget tastes. Being the oldest of three(my siblings are six and eight years younger than I), I totally get looking out for differences. I however, was the sheltered one.
My sister got the whole cadre of "friends" and a couple of good ones too. She, being nearly as tall as I was when she was a freshman meant that my closet was no longer safe. She managed to take this self-confessed nerd's wardrobe and make it very fashionable(considering I graduated from High School in 1991, styles were....unique?). I had my comfort clothes, and she'd make fashion statements out of them...so much so that I was uncomfortable wearing them as I saw them on every freaking teenage girl in the county!
As I have said in other posts, my Mother was from Korea. That meant she has always had impeccable fashion sense. When she went back to visit family, she went to get the latest styles(and some for me too). My Aunt's had a fit when she got me very classic long flowing skirts and linen blouse and pant sets, and very dressy everyday wear. They didn't realise that was my style, and NOBODY ON HEAVEN OR EARTH would get me out of my personal comfort zone.
My Mother has always tried to get me to be "fashionable", but my tastes were for comfort first. She has since learned how to introduce clothing that combines my no-nonsense practicality, with a little bit of fashion. When she knew she was going home, she got a job so that she could afford to spend what she wanted on clothes for us, and not burden our modest budget. I have to tell you, some of those clothes only just now came into fashion here in the US, so they have something on us...
We NEVER lived outside our budget.
Moving on...
I was also the sheltered one, and as such, most of the kids figured me for the "nerd" profile, which only now seems to be outside the box(thank you Big Bang Theory!). I was so very introverted that if you didn't see me up a tree reading a book, you just plain didn't see me. I had so many issues with being Half Asian, and Half Polish(there were three boxes to check...Black, White, and Other. Guess which one I had to choose, and which one I thought I wanted to choose?). It was hard living in my own skin. I hid from the sun so much because I wanted desperately to be pale. That NEVER worked.
{Here's a piece you need to hang on the parent's fridge of every socially awkward --hell, every teenager in the world!:
'I'm a 39 year old single Mother to a spirited near eight year old. I was around 15 when I met one of my father's old art teachers(who then was happily also my art teacher), during the time when I disastrously was attempting to make myself something I would/could never be. He gave me sound advice for being comfortable in my own skin.'
"Imperfections, much like beauty, are in the eye of the beholder. Look at every person you see and draw out their most prominent features(I'm an artist, so this was second nature to me). Think about whether or not they'd find it attractive. Humans are a very primal creature below the skin, no matter how refined and intelligent they fancy themselves. They look, and judge each other in the same way most animals do---are they compatible for the herd? This year Asians and blended genetics are the bottom of the barrel. In a few years, they may be the new "it". (Mind you, this was said in the late 1980's early 1990's...)
Find your own strengths and expand on them.
Let nobody tell you that you aren't anything less than what you are, and you are the best at being yourself, so why try to be anything less than the best?
Love yourself first and foremost, because you will always be who you are inside, no matter how much you try(or succeed) to change your outward appearances.
Don't worry about whether or not everyone likes you now or how you look--in 10 years they'll all be envious of your intelligence, and your genetic combo that makes you seem ageless. In 20 they'll be trying to surgically recreate those looks that you naturally have, and buy classes from some self-help guru to try to create your perfect memory and attention to details. You, by living healthy and happy(and always within your means), just being yourself, will have it naturally.
What do you want to be remembered for, trying to fit in, or walking to the beat of your own drum?" --Mr. Richard I. Shearer
He's so very right.}
BTW, my sister and I had such a HUGE age difference to me that when she just got into Barbie's was when I got into them. Fashion meant less to me than pure comfort. I have always liked being creative with LEGO's.
Get her advanced LEGO sets(the Castle Builds and the PotC are hellishly impressive).
Take her shopping, and TALK TO HER about fashion. Don't push her, don't buy her what you want to see her in, ask her what she'd pick out if she had carte blanche(and take pictures when she's not looking).
ASK HER ABOUT HER HOBBIES.
She may just be introverted, shy and VERY SMART. I know I was.
Agree or disagree, as always, it's...
Just my 2cp.