J Crew teams up with four-year-old blogger Little Mayhem in youngest ever fashion collaboration
Little Mayhem becomes the youngest person to land herself a collaboration with the American retailer
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Your support makes all the difference.Fashion collaborations are practically ten-a-penny these days with a long line of celebrities, designers and bloggers queuing up to link their name with big brands, but none quite like this.
J Crew has teamed up with a four-year-old blogger girl, known as Little Mayhem, to create a capsule collection of clothing for kids.
Mayhem was approached directly by the brand's Creative Director, Jenna Lyons, for the collaboration which will be part of Crewcuts, J Crew's children's division.
The collection will consist of nine items including dresses, tops and accessories that will go on sale in late spring all coming in under the £65 price tag.
The ability of such a young girl to create a fashion collection may raise brows in some parts, but Mayhem seems to have quite the experience under her belt.
The Ohio- based toddler first hit the headlines earlier this year when images of her red carpet dress recreations made from paper, went viral.
Her imitation dresses created with the help of mum, including Jennifer Lawrence's Golden Globes Dior gown and Katy Perry's Grammy Valentino dress earned her coverage globally in publications including Vogue, Elle, Glamour and Harper's Bazaar.
So what of her actual involvement in the process of creating the collection, described by her mother Angie Keiser, on the blog fashionbymayhem.com:
"Let’s not even call it designing a collection. Here’s how it went down … Mayhem and her new crew [J Crew designers] all sat down on the floor and played. And made stuff. Out of paper and tape and beads and glue and crayons."
"And they laughed and hugged and had more fun than I would have imagined. And then they sprinkled their magic J.Crew fairydust on it and turned paper into fabric. And when it was time to go, Mayhem cried. Because she didn’t want to leave."
Jenny Cooper, who is head of Crewcuts design, had nothing but praise for the four-year-old's design talent, she commented to WWD:
“When we met with Mayhem for the first time we were really curious to see how she would work and were amazed to watch this barely four-year-old girl start meticulously folding the pleats on a skirt and placing stones very specifically and carefully on a top she had just fashioned around herself. She has such an inventive and creative personality that really resonated with us. It was great to have a truly creative child be at the heart of the design process.”
But at the very young age of four, Mayhem's involvement with a huge brand and the subsequent media exposure will undoubtedly attract criticism.
But on the question of utilising her daughter's design talents, Keiser comments: "'I keep saying that when she's not excited about it, it's over. But she is the one who says, 'Let's do another new dress,'"
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