THE teenage years are tough. And not just for the parents!

With so much going on - hormones, school, friends, home life etc - one thing is for sure, being a young teenager isn't easy.

Which is perhaps why when it comes to clothing, most teenagers like to assert their own independence through what they wear. 

How we dress is a way of showcasing our personality, of telling the world who we are and it's just as important to growing teens as it is to us as adults.

Finding your own personal style takes years. But for those young teens who are struggling a little to find the right look that suits them, here are a few top tips to help you get them started.

Encourage them to get moody

Don't worry we're not talking mood swings, we're talking 'mood boards'! 

Mood boards are a great way to encourage your son or daughter to discover their own personal taste and get creative in the process!

They can be created online (using things like Pinterest for eg) but we at Yellow Mellon prefer the old fashioned way of getting crafty with paper, magazines, glue and stickers! Encourage your teen to go through an old bunch of magazines and tear out anything that they love or identify with and then get sticking.

Putting together a mood board is a brilliant and fun way of figuring out some new looks. And hey, if it's good enough for the world's leading fashion designers, it's got to be good enough for your teen.

Let them experiment

When your teen isn't at school, allow them to relax a little and experiment with fashion. Weekends and holidays are the perfect times for kids to try out new looks and go a little crazy. 

Yes, we know, that ripped shorts and blue hair might not be your cup of tea, but if this is part of their look, then we say, encourage it and just let them be.

Figuring out how to express ourselves through how we look is a rite of passage for all of us and whilst you might want to put your foot down with certain things (like skirts that are too short for example) on the whole it's best to let them have a little fun.

Don't encourage rebellion but do allow them some personal freedom and remember, when you find yourself gasping in horror at a recent get-up, that if nothing else, you'll have some brilliant photos to embarrass them with in the future.

Help them to get creative

Inspire them and help them to get creative with clothing. Take them to vintage shops, encourage them to browse through the rails of a charity shop, let them have some 'cheap' fun. 

Buy them some plain T-shirts and let them create their own designs with graffiti pens or make headbands out of old scarves. 

Who knows, you may find you have a budding Coco Chanel on your hands!

Show them the difference between classic and fashion

Help your teen to understand that all the best fashionistas know the difference between when to splurge on an item and when to be savvier with their money.

Encourage them to spend wisely, spending more on clothing that is classic and will last such as jackets and jeans and spending less on trendier items like T-shirts and dresses which may only be around one season or two. 

Make them realise fashion is fun!

Admittedly not every teenager is interested in fashion and that's ok! But for every parent, we say this. When it comes to shopping for clothes or dressing themselves, let your teen have some fun and try not to interfere.

Finding their own personal style is an ongoing process and is supposed to be light hearted, creative and enjoyable! As they change, so will their image. The beauty of fashion is that through clothes we can become anyone we want to be. So for teenagers figuring out who they are and how they want to look, we say, let them go a little wild. Trust us, they'll love you for it.

Have you got any tips to share with other parents? Please do comment or share your advice with us on the blog or on social media!

With love,

The Yellow Mellon Team

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