If you find the idea of a toddler dressing up (and posing) like the libidinous recording artist Rihanna disturbing, you probably won’t appreciate the work of Tricia Messeroux. In her studio, Messeroux creates red carpet backdrops for toddlers to channel celebrities at award shows. She calls the series ToddleWood. Other favorites include Angelina Jolie flaunting her tattoos at the Golden Globes, and the more cheerful girl-next-door Jennifer Garner with Ben Affleck at the Oscars. Like Garner (for reasons presumably related to the aforementioned Affleck), Messeroux tends to stay away from JLo – too many plunging necklines and paste-on looks for a child. It’s only tasteful celebrity worship that she advocates.
Messeroux is a self-taught photographer with a full-time corporate job in advertising (she’s held the SVP title at ad agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi and Young & Rubicam). So she knows the power of branding. Looking to expand on the success of ToddleWood (parents pay a minimum $900 to see their kids in celebri-drag), she’s launched TriciaTV – a web series of interviews with exceptional kids between the ages of 5-17. On the TV, the kids tend to play themselves.