Toddler Takeover: Wardrobe Edition

All day our little ones follow our instructions, so we thought it would be great for them to switch roles with us for a morning and give them some autonomy to tell us what to do…

In the first edition of Toddler Takeover, we’ve asked our toddlers to do the one thing they’ve been dying to do… dress their mamas. We let our little ones, aka our newly branded stylists, run willy nilly in our wardrobe and choose everything from our clothes, to accessories and even what shoes to wear. It proved to be quite a fun experiment that produced a ton of giggles, surprising style and made for some pretty great bonding moments.

Maura, co-founder of Sassy and Eve, Mama’s stylist

On Monday morning, I joined the land of the living and prepared to get ready for work. But first I pulled my littlest stylist, Eve into my closet to help prepare me for the day. In full disclosure, my stylist had little to work with so I didn’t expect anything too out there to come out of this exercise. With my bump being crazy big these days (36 weeks!), my dress options are pretty much down to five. She chose this blue dress non-maternity from Cotton On.

Once she had her base, I let her loose in my jewellery drawer (her favourite place to play on most days!). She chose this colourful wooden beaded necklace that I bought on a whim one day and has pretty much never seen the light of day outside of Eve playing dress up with it. I asked her if she wanted any more accessories to go with the outfit and she went back in and chose a blue J. Crew necklace that matched wonderfully with the get up she was putting together so far. From there she said no more jewellery – she is a ‘less is more’ type of girl.

Just when I thought she was too good at this game she started to throw some things into the mix that I wouldn’t have done but then again, that’s the point of a stylist – to challenge your comfort zone. I brought her over to my shoe closet and asked her to pick out shoes and thought she would pick some 5-inch heels that would be completely inappropriate for my waddling self at the moment. But instead she chose my black winter boots so I can ‘jump in muddy puddles like Peppa’ (which we later did as we waited for a taxi on the way to school – so fun!).

She topped my look off with my giant red Longchamp bag which I use for travelling because she said I was going to work and I carry a lot and I needed something to keep me strong. Funnily enough, on that day I did have loads to carry to work so this little stylist was able to anticipate my needs which I rate high in a stylist.

I rocked this look all the way to school drop off and work. I even got a compliment on the wooden necklace by Lauren our Senior Editor as we waited for the elevator at the office – she had no idea that 2.5 year old Eve had styled me so it was a major Rachel Zoe moment for the littlest fashionista in my family!

Kat, Sassy Mama editor, Aiden, Mama’s stylist

I woke up a little bit earlier to make sure Aiden had enough time to choose what he wanted me to wear that day for work. To be honest, I was expecting to look a little like Joseph and his Technicolour Dream Coat plus a mix of Kim Kardashian flare with the comfort of some old summer camp t-shirt I use for pyjamas. I have a pretty diverse wardrobe, ladies!

But nothing would surprise me more at how fast and decisive Aiden was! There was no second guessing with my little stylist. In fact, I was dressed head to toe in Zara (my personal favourite place to shop!). He opened my closet and chose this striped cropped top that was gifted by a friend. He delightfully exclaimed, “BELLY BUTTON!” after I put the top on. Clearly, my summer bod was ready for the world to see (NOT!).

We moved onto bottoms where he then proceeded to choose my comfiest pair of jeans. Good move, bud! I slipped them on, only to realise my favourite pair of denim had betrayed me with the combo of a crop top. We’re talking some unflattering showing of midriff here!

Thankfully, Aiden had decided I should wear a jacket, so we moved onto another closet housing all our winter coats and he picked out the perfect thick jet black leather jacket for this hot humid weather. Sweats away! While we were in that closet, he chose another one of my faves, a transparent patent purse from a local Hong Kong favourite, House of Avenues.

Now onto accessories. I dumped all my costume jewellery onto my bed and was pleasantly surprised when he chose a very complimentary chain necklace from H&M. He then decided to layer that look with a dark green and gold statement necklace. Very forward thinking, buddy… You’re so on trend! And to finish out the outfit with a pair of shoes, Aiden went for comfort, my Nike Flex 2015 Run sneakers.

I took one glance at myself and saw what I could only describe as a chic, cool mum with comfort, style and lots of pizzazz. Bravo, Aiden, bravo!

Ifat, resident foodie and nutritionist and Jacob, Mama’s stylist

Initially, my number two, Leah was all over this fun experiment but gave up the minute she understood that this required a bit more work. So Jacob, my firstborn, came to the rescue! Like every good stylist, he asked, “I’ll help you Ima, where are you going?” He knew the importance of dressing for an occasion.

The first outfit was to go on a playdate with Auntie Shareen, who just happens to be my bestie and my go-to for everything style!  In Jacob’s mind if we were going to meet her, I should wear this romper from Zara to lunch in town with my sunnies from Victoria Beckham. To tote everything around for the playdate, Jacob found this Stella McCartney bag appropriate and a run around the park in my summer wedges from H&M! It’s also worth mentioning that Auntie Shareen gave me a couple of these items in this get up… however, I don’t think she’d put them all together like this!

Jacob definitely seemed to be satisfied with this look so much so that he even styled the photos too. He had such a great time with the first outfit, he decided to style me for two more occasions. Next up was drinks with my girlfriends. He found this tiny little skirt from Top Shop, along with this sleeveless top from Calvin Klein, wedge options again from Zara and to top it all off, a floppy old hat.

And finally, my last look would be suitable to meet my friend, Ana. Jacob pulled out this floral summer dress from H&M and paired them with these tall boots so I wouldn’t be short standing next to Ana. Jacob also said that this outfit is perfect for any rock star and I definitely felt that way rockin’ this combo.

I’ve learned that my son is quite the opinionated stylist, not to mention he’s pretty clued in that he has a short mum that loves rock ‘n roll. It was definitely a super sweet bonding moment with Jacob and had plenty of giggles and fun moments.

Karen, Mama Musings contributor and Miles, Mama’s stylist

With a toddler and a newborn in the house now, I can’t say that I get much of an opportunity for glam and glitz these days… Instead, I’m rocking the illustrious exhibition of spit up stains and poop smears. But Miles is a bit of a fashion diva, he loves my make up bag and new clothes and he also knows that every day can be a red carpet affair. So why not dress for it? Indeed, and don’t I look the part…

So firstly the dress. Now while Miles’ usual choice of outfit for himself must involve some sort of car or train, for me, he ventured outside of the box and chose this pink and yellow number. And although I’ll tell myself that he chose this dress because he thinks I look pretty in it, in reality, it’s really just about the easy milk access (too much info?!). No turtlenecks for this guy!

He then went on to accessorise the look with the most logical of choices: these colourful yellow ear muffs of course! We bought these ear muffs as a bit of a joke when we first came to tropical Hong Kong from Canada. It was the dead of summer and our polar bear bodies could not imagine their purpose in these sweltering conditions. Six years later, however, Miles has found a use for them… To match with the milk dress for this classy occasion of course!

Now the glasses I must explain: we’ve been exploring the beauty that is the cardboard box lately (making cars, houses, and yes, even glasses). So these are my purely fashion glasses, no prescription needed (he must have picked up the HK trend somewhere!). I guess he must have thought the cardboard brought out the dark brown in my eyes…

And finally, the shoes.  He is probably the only one who still thinks they’re pretty and shiny and sparkly after six years of humidity and three years of children, but hey, I’ll take what I can get.  Can’t say I got any compliments on my outfit, as I dared not leave the house (they would have probably taken me in to be examined), but Miles knew I looked darn good and that’s all I need for today.

Give your toddler full reigns of your closet for a day, snap a picture and tag us on Instagram with the hashtag: #smtoddlertakeover We may just regram some of your photos!