As child stars, the world saw Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen grow up in front of the cameras. However, since switching careers from acting to become fashion designers, they’ve largely stepped back from the limelight – so much so they don’t even have personal social media accounts or shop online!
Mary-Kate and Ashley are the minds behind the luxury fashion brand The Row – but they didn’t want to bank on their celebrity status to define their brand.
Sitting down with i-D Magazine for a rare interview – they hardly give any – Mary-Kate admits they’re out of practice when it comes to doing interviews. And during the conversation, the twins share some insight into their decision to let their art speak for themselves.
“We were raised to be discreet people,” Mary-Kate explained.
“I think that potentially that’s just our aesthetic, our design preference,” Ashley added, “But that doesn’t mean that we don’t also appreciate something truly ornate or maximal. Sometimes a collection even starts quite like that, and then gets pared down. It doesn’t always start from that simplistic place.”
At first, they didn’t even want their names to be associated with The Row. It was something they wanted to make for themselves – away from their TV personas.
“We really didn’t want to be in front of it,” Ashley said. “We didn’t necessarily even want to let people know it was us, in a way. I mean, it was one of those things where it was really about the product, to the point where we’re like, ‘Who could we get to kind of front this so we don’t have to?’ I think, to this day, you’ll see we really put the product first.”
It’s been 15 years since The Row began, and Ashley recalls the brand’s beginnings. “We had just moved to New York. We were 18 years old and I think what we did know was that we wanted to take that time to take a break from what we were previously doing and to explore things that interested us, and explore what life has to offer…” she said, with Mary-Kate finishing her sentence in true twin fashion, adding, “Creatively.”
Mary-Kate also shared that she and her twin are “very much perfectionists.”
“We’re hard workers and we’ve always been hard workers,” Mary-Kate said.
She’s also “happy” that people see their brand “as a perfect product or products that feel complete, or whole.”
“I think the reason we do fashion is to constantly try to fix our imperfections,” she explained. “And you have next season to do that. But it’s also our job to find every imperfection in there to make sure that we’re constantly pushing ourselves and training our eyes and making sure everyone is served. Just evolving and learning.”
“The idea that you could buy something off the rack, put it on your body and it already feels like a part of your wardrobe, that’s luxury,” she added. “You don’t even have to think about it.”
Among the celebrities that wear their brand is Gigi Hadid, who also shared her thoughts about the twins’ discretion about not making The Row a celebrity line with the magazine.
“They want to put out their art without feeling too exposed or too vulnerable or used for the wrong reasons. They don’t want people showing up like ‘I’m here for the Mary-Kate and Ashley show.’ They want people to come and respect the clothing,” Gigi shared.
