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Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are celebrating the anniversary of their fashion brand, The Row that they started before turning 21. In a rare interview with i-D Vice the iconic twins celebrated their succesful luxury clothing brand and gave a small peak into who they are as 35 year old fashion designers working together.
They started in the industry at just 9 months and became child stars with Full House. They went on to star in countless television shows and movies, had video games, and merchandize. The world watched them grow up but were not always kind, often scrutinizing their physical appearance when they got too thin. Mary-Kate eventually sought treatment for an eating disorder in 2004.
They decided to leave Hollywood and moved to New York when they were 18 to study at New York University. Ashley told i-D, “We were 18 years old and I think what we did know was that we wanted t 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…” They explored their creative aspirations and launched The Row, in 2006 which is celebrating a decade and a half of business. After years of headlines, paparazzi, and little privacy, the twins live a discreet life and are strategic about everything they do. In Mary-Kate’s words, they are “discreet people – that’s how we were raised.”
Mary-Kate described themselves as “perfectionists.” “I think we’re very much perfectionists. We’re hard workers and we’ve always been hard workers. I’m happy that people look at it as a perfect product or products that feel complete, or whole.” Mary Kate continued, “I think the reason we do fashion is to constantly try to fix our imperfections. 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 twins have never really been apart and love working together. Ashley told i-D, “We like working together and we like having that dialogue. I think it helps harden your ideas to be able to hear them out loud, to speak something through.”
When it comes to their personal life, Mary-Kate was married to Olivier Sarkozy in 2015 but requested an emergency divorce in May 2020, a couple of months into the coronavirus pandemic. Their divorce was settled in January 2021, per Elle. A couple months later in March she was spotted getting cozy with the CEO of Brightwater. Ashley started quietly dating her long-time friend, 32-year-old artist, Louis Eisner in 2017 and the couple was photographed on a date in NYC in March after not being seen together for nearly a year.