When I saw the Kid Made Modern booth at Alt Summit back in February, I knew immediately that this was a brand for Mazzy and Harlow. Started by Todd Oldham, they sell a variety of arts and crafts kits for kids. The kits are not as prescriptive as most of the craft boxes you see in stores, which instruct your kids on how to make a specific bracelet, potholder or window hanging. Instead, these kits are filled with things like colorful poms poms, string, glitter paper, and iridescent buttons so that your kids can put together whatever they can imagine.
This week, Kid Made Modern is launching a brand new clothing line which is born from the same principles, encouraging kids to open their imaginations and create brightly, boldly and with tons of color.
There is nothing muted or understated about these clothes. They are loud and proud. They can be mixed and matched. They are worn to be seen. Mazzy and Harlow fell in love immediately.
I let the girls pick out their own outfits and as expected, Harlow gravitated towards the colorful dresses, while Mazzy stuck with the t-shirts and leggings. A plain white t-shirt that said “Go Make Stuff” was totally speaking her language. When the clothes arrived, it was the first thing she grabbed to put on. Basically, a white canvas against everything else. She paired it with the “Glitch” leggings.
Harlow chose the Venus Fly Trap dress first, which looked gorgeous. The dresses are handsewn in Texas by the same woman who made Todd Oldham’s runway line in the ’90s.
My kids have been sent a lot of clothes for blog posts over the years and it’s interesting to watch what they do based on their outfits. Sometimes they are inspired to act fancy or cool or sporty. When they put on the Kid Made Modern outfits, they were immediately in playful and fun mode. They made faces, horsed around and laughed their heads off.
This was what they did when I told them to “pose.”
Harlow’s favorite dress was the Smush dress, which was inspired by a box of crayons that Todd Oldham left in a hot car when he was a kid. They melted into a rainbow of smudged colors. After hearing that story, Mazzy wanted a Smush dress too.
“I want to put on the t-shirt with the monsters throwing up!”
“That’s not monsters throwing up!” I told her.
“Yes it is!” she said.
I looked at the linesheet that they had sent over email. She was right. It’s literally called the “Monster Barf” t-shirt.
After a few poses for the camera, Mazzy and Harlow’s creativity got the best of them. They did not want to model— they wanted to CREATE. Kid Made Modern had sent over a few of their arts and crafts kits (like the Sparkle Stash Kit and the Bright Bundle Kit) along with the clothes and the kids were excited to make stuff.
Harlow wanted to create a t-shirt out of the supplies, and I had to explain that we didn’t have the right materials. She ended up glueing several strips of colored paper together to create the shape. I think she was inspired by the Dressmaker dress which labels all the pieces and parts it takes to create a garment— pockets, collar, waistline, sleeves. etc. Perfect to give a young fashion designer all the vocabulary he/she needs to hone her craft.
Pretty soon, they left the confines of the coffee table and started playing with the box the clothes came in.
Initially, I was trying to encourage them to go back to the table so I could take more photos, but then I realized this was what the clothes were all about. They taped two boxes together and called it a spaceship, with each of them sitting in their own seat.
To my eye, it wasn’t that complicated of a contraption but in Mazzy and Harlow’s head, it was the “Most Awesome Spaceship Ever.” How do I know that? Because Mazzy wrote it on the flap. Don’t you wish we could see what our kids see sometimes?
She also wrote: Captain Unicorn’s Spaceship in big letters, with “and assistant Chloe” (that’s Harlow) in very tiny letters. I don’t think I need to ask a psychologist what that’s all about.
Have I talked about the fact that Harlow’s Colors dress has the color names for each of the stripes along the bottom hem? It’s got red and blue but also playful names like toast, wet clay and pickles.
I asked Mazzy and Harlow if they could take a few more posed pics and then Harlow had an idea. “What about those photos from high up of all the cool stuff???”
At first, I had no idea what she was talking about, but then I remembered that the night before I had showed Mazzy and Harlow some of the overhead pictures that people post on Instagram of their sleeping babies arranged in scenes created from blankets and accessories.
“YES!!!!!!!!!” Mazzy figured it out before I did. “LET’S DO IT!!!! I bet we could create something cool!”
I was never creative enough to come up with those scenes on my own (nor would I ever risk waking a sleeping baby) but Mazzy and Harlow were undeterred. They brought in pillow cases and an emoji sun from their room. “The blue carpet could look like a sky!” Mazzy said excitedly.
“Stand on something tall to take the picture,” Harlow instructed me.
I brought a kitchen stool over and snapped a pic of them laying down on the floor. I showed it to them.
“It’s missing something,” said Mazzy. “Oh, I know!” She ran off and then came back with two sets of wings.
While this was happening, in my head I was writing my blog post. I figured it would be funny to document Mazzy and Harlow’s lame attempt at sleeping baby art, but joke was on me, because it actually came out pretty cool!
Then they got another idea. “Let’s use the poms poms from the craft kit in the picture!”
Now, I had an idea. “Oh! I know what would be cool! We could sprinkle the pom poms around like stars and it can look like you are both floating in space! We can even use the string to make constellations!!!”
“Nahhhh.” My idea was rejected unanimously.
“Let’s make a heart that connects us,” Mazzy said.
“Let’s make pom pom snow angels!!!” Harlow offered afterward.
“YEAH!!!!” Mazzy agreed. “You lie down and I’ll pour them on you.”
Turns out, we weren’t just taking photos in clothes. I was watching my kids art direct. Hmmmm…maybe they should art direct my Instagram from now on.
“Hey guys! What if we—”
They cut me off. They were done. It was time to get back into the “Most Awesome Spaceship Ever” and fly off to space.
Giveaway: $500 Kid Mde Modern gift card
Do you want to win a $500 Kid Made Modern gift card? Just visit their site and tell me what item of clothing would bring out your kid’s creativity in the comments below. You must be a Mommy Shorts daily or weekly subscriber to win. If you are not already subscribed, you can do so here.
Winner will be selected at random and announced on April 22nd.
Winner update:
Congratulations to Nicole Volschenk! Please email allie@mommyshorts.com to claim your prize!
Use the code MOMMYSHORTS to get 15% off your order! Expires May 1st, 2018.
My little girl would love the elegant elephant beaded dress! She loves elephants!
My son would go nuts for the monsters barfing tee! He takes my husband’s old sketchbooks to school so he can draw and make stories in his free time. Most of his stories include farting dinosaurs and monsters with blood dripping down their teeth (he’s six) and more often than not, everything has “utters” 🙄. He would get a huge kick out of the puke!
My daughter is already requesting the Smush dress and the monster barfing graphic tee!
That Smush dress! I absolutely love it! Their pieces are all lovely! My 9 yo daughter is an artist, so she would love these beautiful dresses!
These are all so amazing. I think my daughter would love all of these pieces, especially the sloth tunic and the monster barf shirt. The dress with flamingos is my favorite.
The Peru leggings and the dressmaker dress are both adorable! Really, there are too many good ones to choose from. I’ll definitely be following this company and buying for my two daughters! 🙂
My daughter loves to mix and match her clothes. I think the glitch leggings would be the perfect thing to add to her wardrobe!
My 5 year old would love the Monster barfing T, she is obsessed with bodily functions at the moment. My 9 year old would go nuts for the dress makers dress. She is currently dipping her toes in the fashion design industry.
My son would love the animal menagerie shirt!
The Raindrop Sweatshirt is sooo perfect for my son and theCandy Dress and Smush Dress for my niece!!! These clothes are so beautiful! I love the brand!
Faith would love the dressmaker dress! She enjoys watching me play doc mcstuffins to her stuffed animals when they need to be mended. She also always wants to help with sewing buttons back on and hem fixes too!!
My daughter loves anything that is STEM-related. I really liked the circuit board t-shirts and nature prints!
There are so many cute pieces! My daughter’s would like the candy dress, and spider dress. The white shirts are cute and could be colored in with our fabric markers. The leggings are cute too.
Patch leggings and sweatshirt
My daughter said her favorite is the Menagerie Dress. I love everything! The designs and colors are 😍
My 3.5yo would love ANY of the pants — she loves patterned pants and makes some outlandish outfits with them already. And given her love of animals, I think she’d love the menagerie dress, too.
Love the Go Make Stuff coloring shirt!
My oldest daughter would flip for the sloth dress and my youngest daughter would love the bird dress!
Love the beaded elephant!
I think my daughter would Love the Elephant Tunic – but I think she needs the Sloth Dress since in the morning she moves slower than a Sloth!
Portrait Pals Printed Tunic – my daughter loves animals!
Ltd. Edition Colors Dress FTW! I can envision my 5 year old wanting to sleep in it so she wouldn’t have to take it off. 🙂
I love love love the raindrop collection. Such a melancholy look for moody and cool tween that isn’t quite ready to let go of being a big kid.
The Patches Coloring Page T-shirt, would be awesome and then he could color it in with fabric markers.
My little one would love the menagerie dress. And than she would tell me about each of the animals. In detail. Everyday.
My son would love the Patches Coloring Page T-shirt! Craft time + clothing will inspire my little entertainer every time he wears the shirt! I’ll just have to ensure that he knows that not all clothing is meant to be colored on 😉
The smush crayon designs are gorgeous, but if I’m honest them the barfing monsters are really what my kids would like. Ha!
i would like the Monster Barf Graphic T-shirt
My daughter would absolutely love the Candy Dress! The colors and candy are so fun and creative.
My daughter would love the bright colored pants and dresses!
My toddler son would love the Patch Printed Kids Leggings. He would enjoy naming all the items on the pants and talking about what’s going on with them.
Ltd. Edition Colors Dress
My youngest would love the CANDY dress, while my older would enjoy the color yourself tees. Great line!
My kids would love the Patch Baseball tshirt because it already looks like they would be covered in stickers which is a usually occurrence in our house. I had the Todd Oldham line of dorm room decor when I went off to college when it was at Target. I loved all the pieces but especially the comforter that reminds me a lot of the stripes in the Ltd Edition Colors dress. I absolutely love the Kid Made Modern line. So much fun!
Love this! My daughter would LOVE the candy dress or smushed crayon dress. She’s all about ALL the colors right now! 🙂
Gorgeous, Fun, kids clothing. My 7 year old would love the Smush crayon dress! Thanks for the opportunity to win!!!
All the outfits are so unique! But definitely thinking my girls would like the smushed Crayon dress!
Ltd. Edition Concentric Circles Dress, or the Smush Dress
Ohhh I’d have to pick the swamp palls tunic because it’s purple (my little girl’s favorite!) AND the colorful stitching is such a fun detail!! Does it come in adult sizes?!
There’s not much for boys, so I guess the chameleon shirt. I really like the wooden craft kits, though.
My kid would probably like the patches coloring tee (because it looks like Minecraft and Legos) OR the monsters throwing up! Ha!
I personally want the raindrops sweatshirt! Does it come in super big size for adults? 😉
The Patches Coloring Page t-shirt or the Go Make Stuff shirt would be my son’s dream come true. He is always coming up with big ideas of things to make and hoarding supplies (garbage in my world) to see what he can construct. It makes me wish I could watch what’s going on in his head like a film reel because it sounds pretty magical.
The ltd edition dress! Is so colorful. My daughter loves rainbows and she is always coloring with ALL the colors
I love the Koala Printed Tunic !
Thank you for this fun contest.
Hi from Louisiana museum in Copenhagen 🙂
The embroidered spider dress because they love spiders!
Smush Crayon Dress! Both my kids love to color and paint. My 5 year old is obsessed with rainbows. Just about every worksheet from school has a rainbow on it, on the back, or just rainbow lettering. This dress totally reflects her love of creating art.
That chameleon tshirt would be so great for my son – and could be passed on to my daughter! I love that most of the shirts are gender neutral.
That beaded elephant dress!! I could never spend $300 on one article of clothing (even for myself!!), except if I won the giftcard! My girlie would lose her mind. She loves all things elephant. 🙂
The Venus flytrap dress would be a hit with my daughter, and lead to never ending singing of “there are bug eating plants in this swamp” from Nature Cat!
My eldest would freak out over the candy dress. Amazing!!
my son would love the monster barf tee or the smush tee. i wish the smush tee looked like the dress! he’s been obsessed with coloring lately and loves using all the colors!
I really love the Ltd. House Plant Dress and Glitch Printed Leggings
My 5 year old would love the Dressmaker dress! My grandmother has been sewing for most of her 80 years and recently taught my daughter how to sew on her machine the last time we visited. That’s all she talked about for weeks after our trip!
My daughter would live the faux fur coat. She would wear it in July even.
We would love the Ltd. Edition Smush Crayon Dress! The colors are amazing!
The Smush dress would be so awesome for my girls. The little one (4) has a “more colors = better” aesthetic when it comes to choosing outfits. I also love the “go make stuff” shirt, and they could color it in with sharpies however they want.
That Ltd edition elephant beaded dress is pretty spectacular! I think my daughter would love all the prints – it’s kind of her thing- the crazier the better!
Peru Printed Kids Leggings!
My daughter would love and be inspired by the Smush dress and probably that Faux Fur Coat.
Wow!! Love this line!!!! So cute! My daughter would love any/all melted crayon clothing! How cute!
My daughter would love the smush dress and my son is more of a monster barf t shirt! It really just sums up their personalities and would truly be just as if it was made especially for them!!
My five year old daughter loves to draw. She fills notebooks with pen drawings. She asks for pipe cleaners for her ideas. So she would be most inspired by the go make stuff t-shirt. Or as she says, can we make something together?
I would have to pick the smush dress for my 3 year old. It would fit her personality perfectly! 😍💃🏻🌈
Omg word! Def that sloth dress paired with the same multi color leggings- my daughter always looks like the crayon box threw up on her. It’s so her…
I absolutely love the smush dress (and kind of want one in my size!)
Carlotta would LOVE the colors dress for sure!
Elephant printed tunic!! I’m a sucker for all things lephanta 😂😂
The Crayon smush dress is beautiful – I want one to match! My son would love the monster barf shirt too.
The portrait pals tunic and glitch leggings will send my daughter into creative mode. My sons are eyeing the chameleon tee.
The Venus flytrap dress is awesome! These are such cool clothes (although a bit – ok, a lot) pricey!
Monster barf t-shirt! My toddler loves colorful shirts but what kid doesn’t? My daughter is also a unicorn obsessed little monster lol I think this will definitely bring out her creative side.
My daughter would absolutely lovethe venus fly trap dress. We have been learning about plants and bugs in our garden (my attempt at a garden) and we have some fly traps growing that she is just in love with. It would be so fun to tend to our plants and see what bugs are eating…or being eaten with her venus fly trap dress on!
My daughter would love the colors dress because she loves anything rainbow.
The elegant elephant beaded dress is gorgeous and my daughter would love it!!! And all of the leggings are amazing!! So different and creative!
The elephant print tunic!
Everything is so fun and cute! My 6 year old old would love any one of those coloring page t-shirts. The minute she comes home from school it’s color, color, and more coloring!
Mushroom shirt because she’s sprouting up all over the place!
My 3 year old son loves art and animals, so the animal menagerie sweatshirt would be perfect for him!
The Smush Crayon items are amazing! My six year old is constantly creating art and sticking it to our walls, furniture, the car, the pets…etc. The more colorful, the better for her!!
My kids would like the smush dress! They love blessing all the colors together.
The smush dress would absolutely inspire my daughter! She loves all things colorful and rainbows!
My oldest would love he loser dress and my younger the centric circles!
Definitely the Ltd. Edition Smush Crayon Dress! My daughter, Talia, is almost 4 and loves everything rainbowed, ha ha! She watches the show Creative Galaxy almost nonstop. It’s taught her how to make trash into art. We now have a small collection of cesarean boxes and milk cartons just waiting to be turned into crafts 😂 I love watching her confidence grow through making her own art. Her little face lights up when her “vision” comes together!
The Ltd edition candy dress is right up my
5 yo’s alley! My 8 1/2 yr old- like Mazzy- has her own “style” now and all the cute outfits I choose for her are dismissed. It is jeans and Harry Potter t- shirts every day. But I think I could get her to wear the “go make stuff” shirt and the glitch leggings. I am partial to the sloth dress bc omg SLOTHS!
Their clothes are super cute and original and so bright- and don’t make an 8 yo look like a 15 year old!
My daughters love coloring and being super creative. The smush crayon dress would be inspiring for my little art girls!
My daughter and I couldn’t agree on just one – so I’m going with her choice of the smush crayon dress
My granddaughter, Maura, would love the Raindrop Favorite Sweatshirt. She loves the rain and to be able to wear raindrops inside the house would be hilarious to her!
My oldest granddaughter would love the glitch legging! They would go great with anything!
We would def need a Smush dress, and a Monster Barf shirt for when the dress has to get washed 😜 Love these clothes so much. My 90s angsty inner teen is so jealous that my kids can wear Todd Oldham!!
Lmt Edition Candy Dress is my fav!
The Ltd edition birds dress is amazing!
So many cute clothes to choose from! I can totally see my daughters creative side coming out in the smush crayon dress. She loves to color and do arts and crafts.
The concentric circles dress is perfect. I’d like it in Mommy size, too.
definitely the monster barf dress! we are at the age where poop and barf and burps are the funniest things ever
I love this store so it’s so hard to pick! I would maybe say the Peru leggings or the dress maker.
MY 3 year old would freak out for the elephant printed tunic! Combines her two favorite things pink and 🐘
I’ve been a huge fan of Todd oldham since house of style. I love his kids made modern line.
My daughter wants to be a designer. She would adore the pattern dress!
My five year old loves the Ltd edition spider web dress and faux fur coat! She also said the leggings are “soooo fun!”😍
Any of the coloring pages tshirts would be so cool! My son would love to wear his “art project” around. Any paper he touches instantly becomes an art project.
The sloth dress. Because my daughter is all about the sloth! She fell in love be when we saw one at the zoo and hasn’t stopped since!