LONDON–Gabby Douglas, our new gymnastics golden girl, is arguably the biggest star in town right now (yeah, even bigger than you, Ryan Lochte).

After helping Team USA handily win gold at the women’s team finals, she went on to become the first African American woman in history to win a gold medal in the women’s individual all-around finals. And she’s not done yet! She has one last individual apparatus final to go this week, and her supportive family is still in London to see her through to the end.

I caught up with Natalie Hawkins, Gabby’s mom, at the P&G Family Home in London (the home is a refuge for athletes and their families as no family members are allowed in the athletes’ village) where she gave me the biggest warmest hug ever. Hawkins famously let Gabby go to train with coach Liang Chow in Iowa at the age of 14, where she lives with a host family (see their incredible story here). Here’s what this fierce mama bear had to say about Gabby’s hair controversy (she’s been attacked on social media because her hair wasn’t “done” enough), her personal style, and fighting with her daughter over wearing high heels.

Fashionista: Gabby’s a teenager, is she into fashion? What are some of her favorite brands?
Natalie Hawkins: She loves Aeropostale. I think she has every one of their shirts and their jackets. And she’s so tiny {Ed. Note: She’s 4’ 11”}, we actually have had to shop at the Limited Too for shorts. She wears a child 12 in bottoms because she’s just so tiny.

Does she have a hard time fitting into clothes?

Her waist is very tiny. Trying to find clothes that accommodate her waist line is difficult and she’s broad somewhat up top. We want [her clothes] to be age appropriate. You don’t want to buy a dress made for an 8-year-old even though she could probably fit in it. It’s very difficult to find things that a 16-yr-old would want to wear. We usually go into five to seven stores before we find a dress.

Do you ever fight over what she wears?
Actually no. She likes to keep her clothes very classy, very tasteful. I pick out a lot of her clothes–I shop for her. Her host mom shops for her also, and I’ve never picked out an outfit where she’s said, “Oh I don’t like it.”

That’s pretty amazing, actually. I wouldn’t have let my mom pick out my clothes!
The shoes are the big thing. She’s not a little girl anymore. She’s 16, she wants to wear heels now. Now I say, “Those are too high” and she’s like, “I am 16 now.” And I say, “But they’re too high can you even walk in them?” and she says, “I can balance myself on a four inch beam and do things that shouldn’t even be humanly possible, so I can navigate some heels.” [Ed. note: Fair enough.]

So did you let her? What are the highest heels she’s worn?
I have. Probably about three and a half inches.

OK now some leotard questions. For other competitions where she doesn’t have to wear a team uniform, what’s the process for choosing a leotard, and does she ever repeat a competition leotard?
We try not to. We try to have a different leotard for every competition. We actually design our own leos. At the Secret Classic and Visa Championships we had to design three leos and that’s very challenging because you have to get the right color combinations, the right Swarovski crystal patterns, and it’s just hard to make it all work.

What do you do with them if she doesn’t re-wear them?

She just saves them all. She has a special little cubby that she keeps them all in. Now we joke, “We’re gonna put those things on eBay!”

A lot of the girls go all-out with their makeup. Does Gabby do her own makeup?

Mostly at competitions I do it. She’s locked away in the athletes village here so she’s been doing her own makeup. I understand they had someone there helping them with their makeup, too. She likes a really natural look, she doesn’t like anything over the top.

So let’s talk about this hair controversy now.