Nobody really wants child stars to grow up. We want to keep them bottled up, caged in with their hair bows, squeaky voices, and baby teeth. It’s creepy, really, the way that people identify full-grown adults so frequently by the persona they inhabited decades ago on Cable TV. In so many instances, this obsession leads the actors and actresses themselves to go haywire; see Lindsay Lohan, see Macaulay Culkin. They were such normal kids, until we told them they couldn’t be anything else.
The one extraordinary exception to the child star rule, however, is the case of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. The pair began working together at the incredibly early age of nine months, and have rarely been seen apart since. After portraying Michelle Tanner in the late 80s on Full House, they built a multibillion-dollar entertainment empire, Dualstar, basically on their own. If two seven year olds worth millions each doesn’t imply at least an ounce of business savvy, then I’m not quite sure what does. As the Olsens grew up, they stayed (mostly) out of trouble, apart from a few teenage slip-ups and Mary-Kate’s treatment for Anorexia Nervosa during her time at NYU. Excepting these incidents, the two grew up safely, even though largely in the public eye, cultivating millions of fans (AKA moi) and just as many dollar bills.
The most impressive Olsen years, interestingly enough, have been the ones since they turned 18 and turned from film to fashion. It’s a transition that many celebrities have tried to make, and is usually executed poorly and sloppily. In the case of MK and A, however, the shrewdly maneuvered changeover was virtually bump free. Since 2005, the Olsens have designed, produced, and distributed several lines, including Olsenboye, Elizabeth and James, The Row, and Stylemint. Combining the net worth of all these businesses, their fashion empire alone is valued at over $1 Billion, and is run entirely by Mary Kate and Ashley themselves.
I love the Olsen twins somewhat because I grew up with them, and have felt a certain allegiance to them as a result. More than this, though, I love them because I am proud of what they have become and look to their success as encouragement for myself and the rest of my generation. If two kids who grew up in the spotlight can escape the crazy of Hollywood to become wildly successful entrepreneurs, who says I can’t? They are beautiful, with gorgeous petite silhouettes that short girls like me can relate to, and have one of the most unreal styling intuitions I have ever encountered. Each is known for pairing the extravagant with the simple, the luxurious with the basic, and the unexpected with the commonplace. Mary-Kate is especially adept at playing with proportion, wearing short jackets over long caftans, or long day coats over cropped tops. Ashley’s shoe collection is more than swoon-worthy, it’s museum worthy. The texture of their garments, the oversized sunglasses, the Venti Starbucks eternally perched in the perfectly manicured grasp of an Olsen – I die.
In 2007, I read an article in Marie Claire about Ashley. It was one of the first seasons of The Row, and before Elizabeth and James was even launched. Ashley was 21 at the time, but was as eloquent and professional as an interviewee twice her age. In reading this article, 14-year-old me realized instantly that these girls were the real deal. My suspicions were confirmed in 2012 when the two were given the award for Womenswear Designer of the Year at the CFDA Awards (basically the fashion world’s version of the Oscars). Whatever conceptions you may have about them, just know this Mary Kate and Ashley know their stuff; they are smart, hardworking, and talented. My respect for them transcends girl crush material, even though I’m not going to lie, they’re up there with Emma Watson and Mila Kunis on my list of ladyloves.
And don’t let me fool you, as much as I love their evolution to fashion superstars, I’m as obsessed as ever with the Olsen empire of the 2000s. Winning London, Passport to Paris, Our Lips are Sealed? All pure gold.
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