tween queens
The CFDA-crowned Olsen twins bring Russia to your closet this holiday seasonwith Olsenboye
Dec 13, 2011 | 2:07 pm
It's kind of flabbergasting to think about how Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen managed to delicately transition from being The Olsen Twins to the Vogue Best Dressed designers behind high-fashion The Row and contemporary Elizabeth & James.
They went from excruciating (but lucrative) made-for-video movies to being legitimate (and lucrative) forces to reckon with who were inducted into the CFDA — the ultimate mark of respect in the fashion industry — at age 23.
In effort, perhaps, to bridge the gap between those disparate identities is the twins' "juniors" line, Olsenboye.
(I put juniors in quotation marks because, while the overall look of the line tends towards middle-school-hallway, there are pieces — particularly shoes — peppered in that look like they belong in my closet. And let's talk about the models. Those aren't juniors' bodies on that website. Read: Jugs.)
Olsenboye (the family's Norwegian ancestors' last name) has been around since 2009, slowly rolling out to J.C. Penneys around the country. The premise is cute: Each collection is inspired by a different city around the world and a corresponding video is produced to promote each one. It's easily the kind of thing a daydreaming young girl could get sucked into for hours, wishing it were her that were ice skating in New York, having a bonfire on the beach in L.A. or running around the Royal Parks of London.
This holiday season, Olsenboye drew its inspiration from Russia. You'll see colorful prints, mish-mashed layers (how very Mary Kate) and rich textures.
Olsenboye (the family's Norwegian ancestors' last name) has been around since 2009, slowly rolling out to J.C. Penneys around the country. The premise is cute: Each collection is inspired by a different city around the world and a corresponding video is produced to promote each one. It's easily the kind of thing a daydreaming young girl could get sucked into for hours, wishing it were her that were ice skating in New York, having a bonfire on the beach in L.A. or running around the Royal Parks of London.
This holiday season, Olsenboye drew its inspiration from Russia. You'll see colorful prints, mish-mashed layers (how very Mary Kate) and rich textures.
The video this time around is pointedly younger, superimposed on watercolor illustrations and animation. But to that end, the business-minded Olsens folded in another point of entry for consumers in the form of correspondingly vivid, illustrated holiday cards straight from Russia, courtesy of a partnership with Paperless Post.
Check out the goods, and see if you can dig up anything playful for your grown-up closet. I'm going for the faux leather leggings. At a $20-$50 price point, it's worth a try.