Call the fashion police! Mum lets five-year-old dress her for fundraiser

Perthshire woman raised more than £400 for humanitarian organisation by letting her daughter pick her wardrobe

A Perthshire mum has raised cash for a lifeline refugee charity by bravely letting her five-year-old daughter pick out her wardrobe.

Kate Lee agreed to wear whatever sparkly dress, Day-Glo leggings or multicoloured tops young Amber selected for her.

For a whole week, Kate, 37, went about her daily routine dressed in colourful creations that might otherwise have been tucked away at the back of her closet.

“My friend was involved in the charity Phone Credits for Refugees, which supports people separated from their families by war and conflict,” she said. “I wanted to do something to help out and I wanted Amber to get involved too.

“We decided that for one week, she would be in charge of my wardrobe.

“I’ve still got a lot of clothes from my teenage years and student days,” she said. “A lot of really eccentric and colourful stuff I’d forgotten about. There was a whole bag of them that Amber could pick from.

“The rule was that I had to agree to anything she chose.”

Artist Kate, who works at her home in Dunkeld while looking after 10-monthold Ivy, diligently wore her outfits to the shops, to a dentist appointment and when walking to and from the Royal School of Dunkeld with Amber.

“It was a bit odd going out and about in very flamboyant outfits, wigs and spangly sunglasses,” she said.

“I was aware I was getting a lot of funny looks. Sometimes I would explain what was happening, but other times I just kept my head down.”

Kate set up a web page for donations and, within a matter of days, made more than £400.

“I felt really self-conscious, but I’m so glad we did it,” she said. “It’s all for a great cause.”

Phone Credit for Refugees – at pc4r.og – is a humanitarian organisation that provide mobile phone top-ups so asylum-seekers and people fleeing their war-torn homelands can stay in touch with their families, communicate with support agencies and keep safe.

Kate Lee let her daughter Amber choose what she would wear, from Day-Glo to stripey tights.