Last week, in the middle of New York fashion week, and on a night that felt like the absolutely, most frigid night of this entire winter, I ducked into an indoor pop-up park in SoHo (yes, they exist) to escape the elements and curl up fetus-style on a beanbag chair with my 6″ Italian herbs and cheese tuna sub. What I encountered inside was far less relaxing but about 10,000 times more amazing. It went a lot like this:

PR-type girl: “Are you here for the event?”
Moi: “Um… no?”
PR-type girl: “Want to see a fashion show?”

Did I even have to answer that? Of course I wanted to! The PR girl promptly led me down some AstroTurf-ed stairs to a small elevated runway lined with park benches. I was seated in a chair marked “reserved” with literally no idea of what was about to come down the catwalk. But before I knew it, I got my answer: A 40-something blonde woman with bangs and a bump-it appeared on stage, and in an almost comically thick southern drawl, clarified the situation: She was a pageant mom–but not just any old pageant mom. No, standing before me was the mother of all stage mothers, Mickie Wood, famous for birthing and managing “America’s Sweetheart” and Toddlers & Tiaras breakout star, 6-year-old Eden Wood. And we were about to witness the debut of her very first children’s fashion line inspired by her living-doll daughter, aptly titled “Sparkle Baby!”

Read more →