Mandy Moore Opens up About Her Mom Squad, the Biggest Motherhood Surprise, & Her Tips for the Perfect Family Photo
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Mandy Moore always looks picture-perfect on the red carpet (as evidenced above). Which is obviously impressive as we, on the other hand, watch said red carpet clad in sweatpants, a T-shirt with a mystery stain, and a messy bun.
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But what might be even more astounding is her ability to take stunning family photos that don’t include crocodile tears and her kids — Gus, 2 and Ozzie, 1 —desperately trying to escape the camera frame. And it’s pretty fitting that the singer uses music to make that happen.
“What tends to work for us is waiting and then putting on a song that everybody likes,” she tells SheKnows’ Social Media Editor Isabella Ong when partnering with Gymboree. “That’ll sort of elicit some sort of movement and smile. Anything to make people feel natural is always going to be the best bet.”
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“But save it,” she advises. “Don’t like constantly be playing the song. Save it for like the moment when you have the camera all set up and things are ready to go.”
And no, she doesn’t play her own music: “My kids would be like, ‘What is this? We don’t want to listen to this.'”
Because of course they would. *Sigh*
Matching Family Plaid Twill
We all know that a great outfit also helps make a great picture. It’s part of the whole “look good, feel good” mentality. And in her family’s case, it’s “look good, feel good, look and feel good on camera.” Moore collaborated with Gymboree on their latest holiday collection, creating matching family outfits and matching pajamas in the most adorable prints. You can check out some of the looks HERE.
One of the most important factors she said she kept in mind was sustainability and the long-term wearability of these items.
“I’m all for very special occasion pieces that are perfect for certain holidays,” the This Is Us star says, “But I think when designing this particular holiday collection, I wanted things to have a life beyond just the holidays and kind of exist throughout the winter season … especially because kids are growing and grow out of things so quickly.”
Growing, and the change that comes with it, is something Moore grapples with constantly — both in the physical and the practical sense. She tells SheKnows that the biggest surprise of motherhood has been the way things are constantly moving and evolving.
“As soon as you get accustomed to something and you feel like you’ve got it all handled, something is going to change,” she explains. “You’re going to encounter some new challenge, some new obstacle. And so it’s, it’s good because it kind of keeps you on your toes. And it’s all sort of practice for whatever the next obstacle is that lands in front of you.”
Family Matching Fairisle Thermal Pajamas
Luckily, when faced with those inevitable obstacles, she has a reliable mom squad she can turn to. These mamas all had babies around the same time Gus was born. And while the get-togethers are less frequent now that the kiddos are in different schools, you know that group text is still going strong — whether the conversation be about the struggles of motherhood or the struggles of finding a great birthday cake.
“I think that’s another surprising thing of parenthood is like being able to find your community and to be able to lean on them and talk to them about your struggles as a parent or with your kids and all of that, like being able to find people who have this very deep connection is has been just really, really special.”
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