fashionologie

The Best-Dressed of 2011

fashionologie — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 10:50:37 PST

>> As 2011 draws to a close, here's a look back at some of the most memorable ensembles of the year. Among the hits? Giovanna Battaglia in vintage Versace, Amanda Brookes in sparkling Derek Lam, Karlie Kloss in super-sexy Anthony Vaccarello - and so many more. From supermodels to street style stars, from Proenza to Pucci - see who made the cut and who wore what, here in our 2011 roundup.

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Christian Louboutin - and Friends - Fete 20 Years of Shoes with Barneys

fashionologie — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:38:59 PDT

>> Last night, Christian Louboutin joined up with Barneys to fete the launch of his eponymous book - as well as the 20th anniversary of his brand - in New York.

The designer's longtime friends (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen), collaborators (Marchesa's Keren Craig), and design peers (Calvin Klein, who left with an autographed copy of the tome) showed up in support. As did more than a few fans - sporting their Louboutin heels, of course. "I'm wearing my very first pair from 1997," Amanda Brooks told Style.com of her strappy red sandals. "He gave them to me as a thank you because I used to work at the Gagosian Gallery, across from the Carlyle, and he would call me on my lunch break to come over and model the shoes for him."

Blake Lively, who made headlines a year ago for carting 40 pairs of Louboutins away from the designer's sample sale, also stopped by: "My first pair was basic black, and after that, it was love - now I have hundreds." Clearly the feeling is mutual - Louboutin whisked her off her feet and carried her away after the event.

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Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Tapped as Creative Directors of Superga

fashionologie — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 08:59:30 PDT

>> Steve Madden, after inking a deal for the exclusive North American license of Italian sneaker brand Superga, has tapped Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen as creative directors.

Madden, who worked with the Olsens on launching their shoe line for Elizabeth and James, says that it was the Olsens who first approached him about doing something with Superga: “We do a lot of business with Mary-Kate and Ashley. They’ve become friends."

Ashley Olsen adds: “We were at a meeting with Steve, and we were wearing Supergas - two years later, it kind of fell into our lap. I really don’t think there’s anything like this brand. It’s a tennis-shoe brand with 100 years under its belt.”

The Olsens will launch an upscale Superga sneaker collection co-branded with The Row for Spring 2012, and will develop all creative and marketing initiatives for the brand, in addition to overseeing retail lines of distribution. “At first, Superga just needs to start off in the right stores and be on the right people’s feet,” said Ashley Olsen. “We look at a million opportunities a day; it’s very personal for us.”

The Row Spring 2012

fashionologie — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 19:42:58 PDT

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Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Fete The Row Handbag Launch at Barneys

fashionologie — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 09:57:16 PDT

>> Last night, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen feted their new handbag collection for The Row at Barneys, both wearing The Row - Ashley in a colorfully embellished gown and Mary-Kate in a blue blazer. The range, which hits Barneys mid-August, features everything from a lizard clutch to the $4,700 Twin Mini crossbody bag - which Barneys fashion director Amanda Brooks wore for the occasion - to a $39,000 crocodile backback. “We didn’t want too much branding; we didn’t want an It bag,” says Mary-Kate of the nine-style collection, which runs $2,350 to $39,000. After the intimate cocktail, where they were joined by sister Elizabeth Olsen, the twins headed to uptown restaurant Crown for an even more intimate celebratory dinner.

Images via Billy Farrell Agency

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The Row Resort 2012

fashionologie — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:33:32 PDT

>> Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen sourced white '40s suiting and the pervasive mariniere stripes of The Row's Resort 2012 collection from the Luchino Visconti film Death in Venice. “We included a lot of cotton,” added Ashley, “because we wanted things to feel clean and fresh." The twins also unveiled a fine jewelry collaboration with Greek jeweler Ileana Makri, featuring an evil eye motif on diamond and sapphire bracelets, cuff links, rings, and anklets, the latter of which they have apparently been fighting over wearing.

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Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Talk John Galliano, Full-Fledged Runway Shows, and Twitter

fashionologie — Thu, 26 May 2011 12:44:12 PDT

>> Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are wary of the press - and they keep their presentations for The Row very intimate, in part because, Ashley says, "I don’t like being around a lot of people." But they sat down with Style.com recently to talk lengthily about everything from Twitter to that moment when they first genuinely burst on the fashion scene - when they started going to NYU. Of that time, Ashley says of their highly-layered "bobo chic" looks: "That moment for us was us waking up, going to school, and not wanting anyone to take our picture. Kind of a piece of protection." And Mary-Kate adds: "For me, it was so cold, like the wind chill. How could you not put on 20 things when you’re going from Los Angeles to walking through the snow? . . . I think it was probably that. And laziness." More highlights from the interview, below.

On hanging out with other designers: A: "I mean, honestly, I don’t leave my house." MK: "We’re either here or at the house." A: "I’m friendly with a lot of people, but when it comes down to it, you won’t see me actually in that [scene]."

On joining Twitter: A: "That gives me so much anxiety." MK: "We’ve spent our whole lives trying to not let people have that accessibility, so it would go against everything we’ve done in our lives to not be in the public."

On doing a full runway show for The Row: A: "I really don’t like going to runway shows. I don’t like being around a lot of people, I don’t like being in crowds, so that’s another more personal part of it. It’s hard for me . . . [But] there are a couple of shows that I’ve been to that are just stunning . . . so if you’re going to the right thing at the right time, it can be fantastic." MK: "We just feel bad for all of you guys who have to schlep everywhere and then write your reviews in the car on a BlackBerry."

On selling one of their brands to a fashion conglomerate: A: "I think it depends on the brand. Right now we have no plans for anything. The main thing is we’re really focused on making the strongest brands we possibly can at the moment, and we’re just getting into accessories."

On why their Spring 2011 presentation for The Row got canceled and moved to Paris: A: "Samples were really delayed based off of new techniques we were using, and we decided instead of putting a halfway thing together and rushing through it, to move it, and we were fortunate to be able to move it to Paris. Thank God for our team. Everyone pulled together, and we were able to deliver a beautiful presentation in Paris . . ."

On the design process for The Row: A: "It all starts with the fabrics . . . Then we go into kind of silhouette development, so we start figuring out our silhouettes, what we’re liking, what we’re leaning towards, an evolution of the previous season, certain pieces, so it really starts with this stylized proportion. Then, through that process, we start our pattern making off the silhouettes that we’re liking and the consistent themes that we start finding, the shapes. So we start twisting the fabrics and then we start trying different fabrics and patterns. And once we have all the fabrics, we have about three weeks to produce the collection."

On The Row's brand consistency: MK: "If you go through our entire collection, you’ve seen it all before. Meaning, pieces repeat. That fur T-shirt, for example, that’s this T-shirt [points to plain one she’s wearing] from a couple of seasons ago, so it’s always consistent. It’s just about how we can evolve and also give the option to either buy this version or that version, creating a story."

On their long hours spent managing multiple brands: A: "I don’t think it’s the creative process that has ever gotten to us. More than anything, it’s about trying to find balance with work and how we can personally stay balanced while having our corporations grow, and I think that’s been the biggest thing that we are constantly aware of. We have to put boundaries on scheduling. We work crazy hours every week, so it’s been more about figuring out when we need to put our foot down. 'We can’t add this extra meeting. It’s one too many meetings in a day; push it later.' So it’s been about that. And with The Row, it’s about how to elevate the process with growth without putting too much on the overhead."

On being women designers: A: "I think the way being women has helped us in our designs is that we do a lot of research on what women like, what women don’t like."

On whether there will be more women designers in the future: A: "It doesn’t seem that way. Like when you look at the up-and-coming designers, there’s not a lot of women."

On John Galliano: A: “I think he’s an amazing designer.” MK: “I think he’s a brilliant designer.”

The Row Now Estimatedly Does Sales of up to $12 Million Annually

fashionologie — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:43:11 PDT

>> Since The Row was founded in 2006, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have raised the label's overall prices by as much as 25 percent (partially due to the introduction of more fur and cashmere pieces), and although it's The Row's policy not to disclose specific figures, sales are now estimated to be between $10 million and $12 million annually. But the collection is still produced primarily in New York factories - and in Los Angeles, to a lesser degree (The Row's handbags and a few knits manufactured in Italy.). “I really believe in our being able to create here and utilize the skills that people have here,” says Ashley. “The skill set is here. Our main issue is that some of the machinery is gone, so some knitwear is produced in Italy. But whether it’s clothing or cars, I believe in manufacturing as close to home as possible. We really want The Row to be an American luxury brand. We believe in not just American by representation but American by make.” Which is why the Olsens are presumedly OK with their clothes being "crowded onto an exceedingly unglamorous factory floor in New York’s garment center," as Robin Givhan describes. "The L-shaped workspace, brightly lit with fluorescent lights, smells vaguely of steam irons and fried rice." [Newsweek]

See Vanessa Traina's Full Maje Collection Lookbook

fashionologie — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 08:42:55 PDT

>> Last night, Vanessa Traina launched her 14-piece capsule collection for the French brand Maje at Barneys, which has the US exclusive. She wore a black tuxedo jacket and pant from the collection, and was joined by her sisters Samantha and Victoria Traina and close designer friends like Alexander Wang, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Joseph Altuzarra, and Proenza Schouler's Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, most of whom followed her to a celebratory dinner down the street at Le Caprice.

The idea for the collection, which ranges from $150 to $490, came about while Traina was in fittings for the brand's campaign (which she's appeared in the past two seasons). She told Vogue.com: "Maje asked me to do their campaign a few seasons ago and we all got along really well. We met the day before the shoot to do fittings, and by the end of it, we’d put together the proposal for a collaboration."

Her ideas for the collection - inspired by "a lot of old '90s editorial," she told us - came easily: "I had a whole folder with me . . . working in the industry and doing consulting quite frequently, I knew what to expect from a design meeting, and I think it really helped Maje understand my vision right from the get-go."

The resultant pieces are simple, primarily silk or lace, and sans color. In fact, minus one white silk maxi dress, they're all in black. "I wear black quite, quite often," Traina explains. "Because this was a one-time collaboration, I really wanted to do something wearable and [focus on] really great separates that fit into your wardrobe. And black goes with everything, so I really just kind of went with that." She told Vogue.com, "Although I must admit, I haven’t worn anything outside of my bedroom yet."

The collection also provided Traina with her first opportunity to design a shoe: "I mean, I've worked with Joseph Altuzarra and people on their collection from head to toe, so I've kind of worked with a shoe, but he [Altuzarra] really does the crux of it, so yeah, it's the first time. It's really cool because we initially started with doing a flat, and then I just thought it would be cool if we stuck a heel on it. So it's just a sandal design."

Even though she now has more extensive design experience, Traina says the collection is a one-time thing: "I really see myself more as a stylist, and I work as a stylist and do consulting. I was really grateful for this opportunity, it was really fun to do something like this, but I think the direction that I'm going in right now with styling is really what I'm passionate about, [and] is really what I love personally."

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One of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's New The Row Handbags Is Called the 'Twin'

fashionologie — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 08:55:27 PDT

>> They just pocketed their first CFDA Award nomination, but it hasn't been an easy road. With the stigma attached to celebrity lines, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen say retailers were originally skeptical about The Row and whether they were actually designing it themselves. “People would drill us about fabric, where we’d make it,” Mary-Kate told Vogue in the magazine's April 2011 issue. “The first season, customers bought it, so the stores came back. And drilled us again.”

Even though they were never formally trained, the Olsens maintain that their design education started long ago. "We had a collection with Walmart at twelve," Ashley notes, "Which was the upper tier of the tween market. It was before celebrity designers.” “And we were really designing it,” adds Mary-Kate. “It would be jeans, a bit bohemian, or with a little blazer. It was really fashion-forward.”

Now, with The Row, the Olsens are all about the finishing touches: they produce gloves with fingertips made in high-tech treated leather, so you don't have to take them off to use a touchscreen. And, they just debuted their first bags on The Row's Fall 2011 runway, which are finished with rectangular brass snaps boasting tiny The Row logos - "I’m obsessed with branding," Ashley says - and spans, Vogue reports, a "supremely supple, superdeluxe range of crocodile and snakeskin backpacks, computer bags, and clutches. One design, which ranges from mini-shoulder bags to totes, has two compartments sandwiched together, with textured skin on one side, suede on the other. It’s called the Twin."

So what does the future hold for the twins? “The thing about us,” Mary-Kate says, “is we think big. Huge.” Ashley, meanwhile, gets a little more specific: “I want to run a studio. I’d probably like to manage other people on their brands. It could be an artist. A young designer. It could be an existing brand.”