>> Last night at the 92nd Street Y in New York, Ashley Olsen, the Washington Post's Robin Givhan, and Isaac Mizrahi gathered to chat with Glamour's Cindi Leive about the "Future of Fashion."  Ashley, dressed in a long dress — a production sample from The Row — told Glamour backstage: "I'm actually not very comfortable with public speaking, and that was something I told myself I'd work on — getting out more and doing some public speaking."

Her "number one teammate," sister Mary-Kate, and boyfriend Justin Bartha were in the audience to cheer her on as she doled out tidbits like The Row's clients are an average age of 50, she thinks girls with small budgets who want to be fashionable should shop vintage, and she loves her Toms shoes: "So comfortable." Isaac Mizrahi helped keep the tone light — at one point, he took of his shoes to show off his toes, painted a "day-glo pumpkin" color, but the panel did delve into some heavy topics.

The highlights »

>> The Row to Do Jeans for Spring 2010 —Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen held their Spring 2010 showroom presentation for The Row today, and Who What Wear's Katherine Power Tweets: "such great jackets and for the first time, jeans! They look like vintage levis, so good."  O magazine's Adam Glassman snapped a picture of a mint green cardigan from the collection. [Katherine Power Twitter, Adam Glassman Twitter]

>> Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen captured the hearts of fashion obsessives through The Row from the first collection — but who could have guessed that they would also win the heart Cathy Horyn, who prides herself on picking apart Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy, another industry favorite?

Horyn blogged about her interview with the Olsens yesterday, and today comes her article, in which Jim Gold, chief executive of Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys fashion director Julie Gilhart both deem The Row "perfect": Gold because The Row "offers the perfect blank . . . so many designers are intent on the next great trend that some of the basics are neglected" and Gilhart because of the timing — more and more women are looking for high-quality, classic pieces.  They probably also like that they never have to put The Row on sale, since the line doesn't go out of style.

The majority of The Row's customers are 35 to 60, Ashley says, adding that the line will break even this year. Annual sales are expected to be 30 percent, and total sales are estimated at $10 million — for comparison's sake, Alexander Wang just told W his business is around $20 million, which W called "small."  The Row is produced entirely in New York, with mostly Italian fabrics, and is designed with a precision concerning proportion — a black blazer, for example, has a high armhole, Horyn writes, "because the Olsens liked the way Paris couture jackets fit, with high armholes and narrow sleeves that make your arms look even skinnier and longer."  Neither of the Olsens are interested in staging a fashion show.

No tank tops for Mary-Kate »

>> Cathy Horyn Chats with Mary-Kate, Ashley Olsen about The Row —Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were recently inducted into the CFDA, a watershed moment for an industry that typically shuns celebrity lines, and now Cathy Horyn writes that she interviewed the Olsens for a New York Times piece on The Row, coming out tomorrow: "I was strangely pleased to discover that their two-room production office on W. 39th looked like a storage closet, it’s so crammed full of scuffed furniture, sketches, dress racks and plastic-sheathed bolts of fabric." Ashley's take: “I think people would be surprised that all the product is produced from the five people who work here,” Ashley said. “I think that would be shocking—that the brand seems much bigger than the actual process is.” [On the Runway]

>> Ashley, Mary-Kate Olsen Cut into Alaia Dresses Without a Care —Ashley Olsen can cut a mean set of basics for The Row, but in the September 2009 issue of Marie Claire, she admits that she and Mary-Kate also cut other designer's pieces to suit their small frames: "The amount of beautiful things we've ruined — not having the patience for a tailor and cutting everything ourselves . . . My sister once took an Alaïa dress of mine and just cut the whole thing, and then she was like, 'I cut it too short.' Mary-Kate and I don't think about fashion as these clean, beautiful objects. We just kind of wear it and live in it." [Marie Claire]

>> As is to be expected, this year's September issues are not going to be the behemoths of yesteryear: publishers are approaching their closing deadlines this week and said that they expect issues to be about a third lighter than years past.  

The September issues are still anticipated to be the Fall's largest, as most advertisers withdrew their pre-collection ads that run in August to focus on September and will run fewer ads, if any, in the remaining months.  As for the cover faces, magazines are sticking with safe bets — blonde white women. Vogue will feature Charlize Theron, who usually graces their October covers (in 2004 and 2007); W will, as reported, have Kate Moss photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott; Elle will boast perenially newstand-friendly Jennifer Aniston; Allure went with Amanda Seyfriend, Glamour with Jessica Simpson, and Marie Claire with Ashley Olsen.  

No word on Harper's Bazaar, POP, V, LOVE, or Vogue Italia, but Vogue Paris is said to be breaking the blonde mold by dying a usually flaxen-haired model's coif black in a "radical model makeover" — some suspect the "luscious" beauty in question may be Lara Stone.

>> Ashley Olsen has been inching out of the public eye towards a more behind-the-scenes role for a while now, and in the upcoming Summer 2009 issue of VMan while promoting the new expansion of The Row into menswear with a Sebastian Faena-lensed editorial, she lays it out for interviewer Marc Jacobs:

The way I look at it, I had a career as a child. I had a career in an industry in which the media kind of. . . they're obsessed with the young girl thing. But when I turned 18, I moved to New York, and I haven't really done anything to be a celebrity. I've been transitioning from acting as a kid to doing something that I'm choosing for myself — to be a part of the fashion industry . . . the outside perception is very different because you do have celebrity brands, people like Jessica Simpson and Kimora Lee Simmons, and those are celebrity brands because they have their names on them.

I want to be behind the scenes, and I don't want people to know anything about my personal life. I have a job, I take it very seriously, and I work really hard.

Her focus now is The Row, but she's still looking at aquiring other brands: "I don't want to talk about them because there are a couple that could be potential opportunities.  We're always thinking of new things, new divisions that are missing in the marketplace."