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Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen "Influence" will thrill aspiring fashion designers, fans
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It’s billed as a coffee-table book, not a kids’ book, but young teen-age girls into fashion will love it.
So will fans of Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, whether based on their current fashion marketing efforts or nostalgia – for the days they were they played, jointly, the cute tot-character Michelle Tanner on the TV sitcom Full House (1987-95).
In Influence, the twins interview their role models in the fashion industry, the designers, artists and creative entrepreneurs who inspired them.
In case you haven’t followed their careers since they started working in TV at nine months of age, some 21 years and a few months ago, the diminutive twins are rocking the fashion world with two designer labels. They started with a “masculine-feminine” style of dressing, or so says Stephanie Solomon, fashion director at Bloomingdale's, which carries their Elizabeth and James line. Whatever masculine-feminine means, you will pay about $250 for a black T-shirt under Ashley’s exclusive label, The Row, if you’re rich enough or gullible enough.
About four years ago Mary Kate and Ashley were freshmen at New York University with a company called Dualstar. They then bought out the shareholders and seized control and set off a bohemian-chic trend of ragtag clothing in layers and lots of accessories. Some put them on “worst dressed" lists, but that probably help catapult them to success.
"Over time, their style has become a lot more refined," said Hope Greenberg fashion director at Lucky magazine. Their look is "very chic, urban, street, expensive, but still cool. They're always cool. They're unfailingly cool."
Elizabeth and James is only a year or so old, so time will tell. It was named after their older brother and younger sister and follows Mary-Kate's hipster preferences of tomboy blazers, plaid button-downs, an oversized sweat shirts – stuff teen girls love. But here’s where the book comes in. The twins interview really famous designers, those whose work has stood the test of time, and let them talk about their inspirations and careers. Those dreaming of a career in fashion, even momentarily, will read interviews with Diane Von Furstenberg, Karl Lagerfeld, Francisco Costa, Richard Prince and Lauren Hutton.
For instance, Chanel designer Lagerfeld tells the five-foot, one-inch sisters in his Q&A that he thought they were shorter. "Not that it matters. What you need is a face. If you have a face you don't need height or a voice," he says.
Von Furstenberg, who started a fashion craze with her signature wrap dress, says she morphed into a brand before she knew it, aiming to be "a woman who didn't need for the man to decide."
For the twins’ fans, there are lots of pictures of them, too.
Reviews of the book were mixed. While some called it just another one of the twins’ expert marketing ploys, others saw it as offering real behind-the-scenes access to fashion icons that aspiring designers would die for, that the twins have thanks to their celebrity. Amazon.com reviewer K. Davis said all the interviewees talk about how they had to work really hard to get where they did, and thinks that something young people have to learn. That message is a good reason to buy the book. If fans of Mary Kate and Ashley buy it just for the pictures, they probably won’t be disappointed either. The hardcover is $35 and, in keeping with the twinned theme, the book comes in your choice of two covers, one Mary Kate one Ashley.
Back at Bloomingdales, Solomon says she was surprised by the quality and innovation of the Elizabeth and James line, and the twins’ dedication and work ethic. They also run their own show, apparently, down to insisting on helping to decorate their window display at Bloomingdale’s flagship store in Manhattan.
The line, Solomon said, “would sell even if they were unknown."
But then, the Olsen women have influence.
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