Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen

With the Fashion’s Night Out only a few weeks away, it was only a matter of time before the most famous names in the industry got involved. With the help of MAC Cosmetics and Estee Lauder, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ashley Olsen, Diddy, Zac Posen, Alexander Wang, Oscar de la Renta, Anna Wintour, Diane von Furstenberg and more joined forces in this promotional video aimed to help put the fun back in shopping! On September 10, Vogue, the CFDA, NYC & Company, and N.Y.C itself are all encouraging people to go shopping in all five of New York City’s boroughs with extended store hours (participating stores are staying open until 11 PM!), in-store appearances by designers and celebrities — some of whom are featured in this video — plus food, music, drinks, gifts-with-purchases, fashion shows, beauty treatments and more. We can’t wait! Even if you can’t make it to any of Fashion’s Night Out events, you can still support the cause with a specially designed T-shirt, $30, at neimanmarcus.com — 40% of the proceeds for each shirt will be donated to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. Get more information on Fashion’s Night Out events at FashionsNightOut.com and Vogue.com.

Courtesy Marie Claire

Ashley Olsen has moved seamlessly from child star to star designer, with successful lines Elizabeth and James and The Row under her petite belt, but the way she sees it, she dodged a bullet. Speaking to Marie Claire of her tightly-regimented childhood, she muses, “That’s why I look at Britney, and I’m surprised I didn’t end up like her.” Her saving grace may have been her love of fashion and innate taste level. “I think you’re either born with a sense of style or you’re not,” she tells Marie Claire, which is on newstands August 11. “Either you care or you don’t.” Ashley and her twin, Mary-Kate, “love fashion,” she says. “When we were going to NYU, I think that was the first time we were aware of the power of our personal style. Not the power of it, but the result of it.” The endless press coverage of their every outfit was a surprise at the beginning. “Between the big sunglasses and Starbucks cup and the big sweaters, the hobo-chic thing, we were more shocked than anything,” she says. For the twins, it’s just a natural choice. “Mary-Kate and I are very aware of trends and style, but at the end of the day, we don’t even think twice about it,” she says. “It’s just, ‘What do I feel like wearing today, and how do I want to put it together.’” And for both sisters, they are always willing to take a risk, even if it means destroying a designer piece. “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.’” Ashley has to laugh. “Mary-Kate and I don’t think about fashion as these clean, beautiful objects. We just kind of wear it and live in it.”

CLICK THROUGH TO SEE ASHLEY’S COVER!
(more…)

Rachpoot/INF (2)

Ever left your home and then realized you dressed totally wrong for the weather? Well, it looks like Mary-Kate Olsen had one of those days on Friday. Midway through the day, the petite star ditched her black pants to just rock her long tunic with her sexy sky-high heels. Thanks to her great legs, we think she looked great with and without the pants — and who can blame her for shedding the heavy trousers in that California heat! Tell us: Which version of the outfit do you like better on Mary-Kate? With pants or without? – Janet Mock

Photos by Roderick Angle

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen bring the journey of Peter Pan’s Lost Boys to life in their Fall ‘09 collection for Elizabeth and James. Starting with the “proper” London life and then giving way to the savage gardens of Neverland, expect to see schoolboy and Victorian detailing followed by raw-edged foliage pieces, prints and silhouettes. This collection marks the addition of a men’s collection and footwear to the already popular line. Stars like Nicole Richie, Lauren Conrad, Heidi Klum, Vanessa Hudgens and more already love the line, and with the addition of menswear, we think it is only a matter time before stylish guys like Zac Efron start wearing Elizabeth and James too. Tell us: What do you think of Elizabeth and James’s fall collection?

CLICK THROUGH TO SEE ANOTHER IMAGE FROM THE LOOK BOOK!

(more…)

Courtesy of VMAN Magazine

Bye-bye blonde! Ashley Olsen, 22, who typically sports blonde tresses, got in touch with her dark side and dons a dark brown wig for a pictorial in VMAN magazine’s upcoming summer issue, of which PEOPLE.com has an exclusive preview. While Ashley appears serious and sultry in the photos, which were shot by Sebastian Faena, off-camera, she tells the magazine, “I’m definitely a hippie girl.” On the career front, Ashley says fashion is in her future, not acting. “I’ve been transitioning from acting as a kid to doing something that I’m choosing for myself-to be part of the fashion industry,” says Ashley, who helms The Row, a luxury women’s fashion collection expanding into men’s wear in the fall. Adds Ashley of her plans to conquer Seventh Avenue: “That’s what I want for my future. It has nothing to do with my past, nothing to do with anyone else’s agenda. And I followed my heart the whole way. But 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 it.” Although she and her twin Mary-Kate may appear to be cut from the same cloth, that’s not the case in terms of their ambitions. “The Row is really something that I’m doing while my sister still wants to focus on acting. She’s my partner in The Row, but she trusts me with the everyday. I mean, I see her like ten times a day.” –David Caplan

Chad Buchanan/Getty, Carlos Vila/Gardiner Anderson

Mary-Kate Olsen always marches to the beat of her own fashion drummer, but could she be listening to the siren call of Ozzy Osbourne’s style? While out biking in N.Y.C. with her boyfriend Nate Lowman this weekend, the petite star paired her flowing wavy locks and layered necklaces with round blue specs that call to mind Ozzy’s classic bespectacled look. But of course, biting off someone’s style is always an easier move than biting the head off a bat. Tell us: What do you think of Mary-Kate’s look?

Courtesy L’Koral Industries; Dave M. Benett/Getty (inset)

Just a few weeks after announcing a men’s collection for their high-end line The Row, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are gearing up to launch menswear under their Elizabeth and James line for fall! “We knew eventually there would be a guy, James,” Ashley tells WWD. While the contemporary womenswear line already teeters on the feminine-masculine line, the menswear collection, says Ashley is “about balancing uptown and downtown.” But, continues Mary-Kate, “That’s not literal, it’s just a reference to fabrics and risks that people are willing to take in the way they dress.” The designing duo took inspiration from Oliver Twist and Peter Pan’s Lost Boys for their first Elizabeth and James men’s collection, which will launch at Barneys this fall with prices leaning higher than the womenswear line. With shoes launching around the same time, and jewelry already on the shelves, we wonder what’s next for the Olsen design team. Handbags? Please!