What the Cool Kids Love – October 2014

Five-year-old New Yorker Haileigh Vasquez has a closet most adults would covet.

Ray-Ban aviators? Check. Hair scooped up in a topknot? Check. Patterned pants and a casual tee topped off with an I-mean-business blazer? Check, check and check. You would be forgiven for thinking this describes the front row-worthy wardrobe of a top fashion editor, but it’s actually one of the most-liked looks on little Haileigh Vasquez’s Instagram, @hails_world. The pint-size style maven may be a mere 5 years old, but to her thousands of followers, she’s a fashion icon in the making—and Latina and Essence agree: Both magazines called her one of the most stylish kids on social media.

Haileigh’s mom Zulay, who manages her Instagram account, started sharing her outfits in 2012 after she noticed how many compliments her then-toddler would get when they were out and about in New York City, but she says she never imagined this level of attention. (Haileigh now has more than 98,000 followers on the photo-sharing site.) Some mornings Haileigh picks out one piece from her closet, which Zulay then builds an outfit around, but mostly she prefers to play while her mom gets everything ready. Luckily the two rarely disagree: “I always look wonderful,” quips Haileigh. Her favorite store is J.Crew (“They always remember my name and have special treats for me like swirl lollipops.”), and she loves to wear dresses and skirts, especially tulle ones. “Because I can twirl in them like a true princess,” she giggles.

When she’s not posing for photos she loves to swim, read and sing songs from her favorite movie, Frozen. And she hopes to be a pediatrician when she grows up. “I just love babies. They’re so cute and I want to make their hearts feel happy,” she says.

—Lyndsay McGregor