MARY KATE OLSEN PHOTOGRAPHED FOR ITALIAN VOGUE BY THE LITTLE SQUARES.
In Time Magazine’s 2004 article “Women in Fashion: Who’s got the power? ” Mary Kate Olsen was given the #4 spot, just behind Rose Marie Bravo, Miuccia Prada and Anna Wintour.
That was then, this is now. After only a few short years, not only do she and sister Ashley have a hugely successful line with Elizabeth and James, but have also secured true credibility with The Row, their very precise, very chic, and very expensive fashion label. Together they currently grace the cover of American Vogue’s Best Dressed Women of 2011 issue.
Since she was nine months old, Mary Kate has been working full time. She now has full control, along with sister Ashley, of The Duelstar Entertainment Group, a multi-billion dollar force in the crossing worlds of mass market design and media. Their entertainment and lifestyle products are instant successes all over the world and they have been surrounded their whole lives with people who basically invented the idea of ‘branding’.
It’s funny how the press seems to need to be able to define things in order to talk about them. Is she an actress or just a celebrity? Business woman? That doesn’t sound right either. So, maybe the difficulty lies in the fact that her massive popularity should not allow her such stark individuality. She must have teams and teams of people doing everything for her. Micromanaging every detail down to what she is wearing. All fake. All manufactured.
Thats whats so interesting. Guess what? Its all real.
“I don’t know when I became aware of fashion…I look at photography books more than magazines. The layouts are incredible. I also look to film, old and new, for my personal inspiration; decoration wise and costume, because in a film they put together the whole package.”
This is where it gets really interesting. Someone who grew up on a set might tend to view life, as Mae West said, “as a film that never stops”. Decoration is set design, clothing is always ‘costume’. In Annette Tapert’s book, “The Power of Glamour”, she defines glamour as “a means towards intrigue, mystery, knowing how much to reveal and how to reveal it.” She says, “a woman has the ability to change the temperature of a room when she enters it. What women are practicing in both public and private is akin to glamour’s original meaning: witchcraft.”
It’s hard for any celebrity to maintain that air of witchcraft thanks to the paparazzi and reality television. The tabloids are responsible for both the unveiling of the stars who want to be ‘just like us’ and the false veiling, like when the stars get into their borrowed dresses that don’t exactly fit and borrowed jewelry and the press screams ‘absolutely fabulous!’ Wasn’t the best part of Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry the stories of how and when Richard Burton bestowed them upon her? Fashion, itself ironically referred to as a repeated illusion of newness, is in fact not factual, but fictional. Its all made up. Street style was and is the original and ultimate form of user generated content.
“When I was thirteen on a television show, I started cutting down adult size clothing for wardrobe to create a fashionable element to the show, or I guess at the time it seemed that way to our peers, which were other kids. What I feel comfortable and confident in is constantly changing, that has a lot to do with it. If I am unsure about something, I will take it off immediately. “
“I always have this split mind, its so hard because I am so criticized by the tabloids….most of America or the world are reading these tabloids and not studying the history of fashion. Though I don’t really have a stylist, I don’t have anything negative to say about them. Some people, without mentioning names, truly need them. They have no sense of it, its not their art…For me, it is an art. The whole presentation of myself is an art…photography, fashion, dance, music; it’s all expression. For people who need that help it’s ok. I know I will be criticized by the whole world if I wear a jacket too big or for having holes in my tights or whatever it is. The fashion business seems more responsive to my expression. The worst is when two celebrities wear the same thing. But fashion and celebrity have become very close, that’s just the way its going right now and will be for a while. Sometimes, yeah, I look back and say, what was I thinking? But I feel very confident with myself right now. There are times when then tabloid things become a drag. I want to be known for MY jewelry, for MY style. Buying is an investment; I am a collector. Pieces become part of my collection. I am not a huge impulse shopper…there is a lot of thought that goes into it.”
“We have been working so hard on The Row. We like to look at the great cuts of menswear designers, the way they make the jackets. That’s what we study. The most important thing to me is of course how the line is going to be displayed, how is it going to be presented. Every detail is that important.” Remember, she is no socialite, she is a very focused businesswoman who is never late for an appointment and works out details before hand so work days run smoother. Her art is truly the ‘art of living’. Style and glamour may need new definitions when she is done with them.
“I feel like I live out of my suitcase…I go around with a huge duffel bag in the car. Even going from uptown to downtown I can change according to the moment. Sometimes I will show up in the same outfit as the night before only because I had to change in the car and it was in my duffle so I’ll just throw it back on.
” I see the character of the grandmother in Great Expectations and I think that’s going to be me, running around inside the house, being crazy but looking so fabulous. I also look at interior books from the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s…anything like that. When I go to the Musee D’Orsey in Paris, everyone else is looking at the Water Lillies while I am ecstatic over the wallpaper…its this silk that is discolored from sunlight damage, but it looks incredible. I love wallpaper. I look through interior magazines and I dream. I think, if I had a house here it would be this kind of house and if I had one there it would be that kind. Even setting wise. I was watching the 1936 film “My Man Godfrey”, even when they woke up they seemed to be wrapped in fur coming down some fabulous staircase. It was all very glamorous.”
So, this could be why the tabloids are so tough on her. She refuses to be user generated content. Nope. Her style and art of expression, like it or not, is not the construct of fashion gurus and commentators and marketing consultants. It’s hers. The public is just not used to seeing anything like it. For someone who has already lived and worked a lifetime at age 20 her enthusiasm for things old and new could make for an extraordinarily interesting recipe. If glamour is witchcraft, Mary Kate Olsen certainly casts a spell.
written by Debra Scherer for Italian Vogue
