She is an actress, a designer and a fashion icon. Luke Crisell meets the very private Mary-Kate Olsen to discover what influences her unique sense of style.
The second-oldest cemetery in Manhattan is a small, well-maintained affair: the names of those interred here are inscribed on tablets lining the walls. Hazelnut trees dot the lawn. Once an undistinguished plot of land on the Lower East Side, the graveyard now abuts the tiled patio of a boutique hotel where Mary-Kate Olsen has decided we should meet. "I remember this place used to be so cool", she says, raising her eyes to the cloudless sky. But then they started letting everyone come here. She goes to take a third cigarette from the Marlboro Red packet on the table but it's empty. She takes it, clearly frustrated, and picks up the butt of the last one, which seems to placate her. Somebody actually threatened to throw a drink in my face not too long ago when I was sitting here with two friends. It was some drunk guy who had been here since noon. However over-populated the hotel might be in the evening, now, at the beginning of a soporific afternoon, were alone. The patio is tranquil and Olsen, curled up in the middle of a wicker couch, is serene, her dramatic features partially obscured by the John Lennon-style sunglasses that cover half her face. In her current outfit, she vaguely resembles a pirate, albeit a very small one.
Mary-Kate could probably fit a few close friends inside her orange vintage flannel shirt, open to the navel and which, on her barely five-foot frame, seems almost Brobdingnagian. The sheer quantity of precious metals she is wearing would be preposterous on anyone else. Around her neck are four necklaces; on her tiny hands are five huge rings (one of which opens like a locket to reveal a skull being strangled by a gold serpent); and around her wrists and up her arms are about 30 bracelets and bangles, which, at one point become entangled. ("Oh my God, I've handcuffed myself!" she says, laughing.) The outfit is rounded off by black suede Pedro Garcia heels and black Kova&T leggings. "I've actually been wearing this for about the past 10 days," she says laughing, "the jewellery jingling gently on her arms. It's natural for me to throw on whatever I'm going to wear and not think twice about it."
Olsen has been in the spotlight since she was nine months old, when she and her twin sister Ashley played the role of Michelle Tanner on US sitcom Full House. By the time the series ended, when they were nine, the pair were reportedly earning 150,000 per episode, and their entertainment company, Dualstar, run by legendarily astute lawyer Robert Thorne, was going from strength to strength. When they turned 18, the sisters took control of the corporation, which was reportedly making hundreds of millions of dollars a year (as a privately held business, it does not release figures) by marketing their impeccable image in every conceivable way. "We spent all of our childhood and teen life, I guess, doing things for our fan base and catering to them," says Mary-Kate. From music videos to albums, games to books, dolls to cosmetics, accessories, to straight-to-video films (no less than 45 of them), rugs to lamps, to perfumes to toothpaste - the Dualstar umbrella reaches across the world, and, as co-presidents, Mary-Kate and Ashley oversee and approve every aspect of the company and it's many licensing deals.
But in the past few years, Mary-Kate has transformed herself - she's no longer just a fraction of Mary-KateandAshley. In fact, that decidedly tween image - all straight-ironed hair and perma-smiles - couldn't be further from the Mary-Kate sitting in front of me today, whose wavy locks fall haphazardly around her face and in whose hand a cigarette is seemingly always smouldering. The smiles still there, though, only it's more relaxed now. Here, after all, is a woman who has managed to take control of her own image, wresting it away with relative ease from the child star tag under which some actors labour for so long.
As insouciant as she claims to be about her personal style ("I don't think I will ever be able to wrap my head around [why people write about it]," she says), Olsens slightly eccentric, utterly unique, often polarising sense of style has elevated the 22-year-old star into the highest echelons of the fashion world. In recent years, she has earned her place alongside the likes of Chloe Sevigny and Sienna Miller, and has made an impression on some of fashions most influential names. Karl Lagerfeld has said of her, "I love a tiny woman in Chanel. Coco herself was tiny, so you don't need to be a giant to look good in these [designs]. I like the way Mary-Kate is mixing Chanel with other things. Life is not a fashion show, and I find a total designer look boring." This innate style has seen Olsen elevated to icon status - in the eyes of designers as well as fans. Margherita Missoni says, "When I'm asked to name a contemporary icon, I always say that is a contradition in terms because the iconic status is created by posterity. Mary-Kate is a rare exception to my rule. With her, you already know that future generations will look at her as an icon." Giambattista Valli agrees: "Mary-Kate has an innate sense of style that follows no rules. Her personal style surpasses fashion. I'd like to design a couture gown for her that she can wear then cut into a minidress or a fantastic sleeping bag."
In America particularly, Olsen's outfits are scrutinised, often in the tabloids in photos where she's looking slightly scared, slightly annoyed, or a mixture of the two. "I feel so weird because I don't really read or look at many fashion magazines," she says. "But I think it's flattering that people acknowledge my fashion and enjoy it. What I find odd is, lets say a weekly will come out [describing my outfit] as a fashion disaster, while the fashion industry actually respects what I wear." So it goes hand-in-hand. Something could be seen as horrible, but by someone else it could be viewed as a fashion trend. Does this mean, then, that she's developed her own set of style rules? "I dont think I'd wear a velour jumpsuit," she laughs. "And it's hard for me to wear things with logos all over them. But usually, I'm up for anything."
The inspirations for Mary-Kate's many-varied fashion sensibilities are hard to pin down. It's easy to imagine something of Francoise Sagans young heroine, Cecile, from Bonjour Tistesse - melancholy but ever-so-lightly naive, fashionable but resolutely romantic - in the way she dresses; and she has that steadfast idiosyncrasy of those women whom she says she counts among her style icons: Edie Sedgwick and Brigitte Bardot.
"I'm always being inspired by something different. Something new. Something absurd," she says, watching a bee buzz lazily past our table. "I get inspired by old films, weird things. It could be a person sitting across from me or it could be a full Victorian costume." She takes a sip of water and looks at her clothes as if considering them for the first time. "I love Halloween. I love playing dress-up. The other day, I threw my friend a birthday party. The theme started off that everyone had to wear a plaid shirt and then we decorated the house with pirates, so it was pirate-themed. Pirates and plaid! It was very wird," she laughs gently. "It can be anything, tough: I love a theme. I'll dress up for anything."
Not only is her personal style revered, both she and Ashley are now established designers, helming both The Row and Elizabeth and James - jobs which Mary-Kate takes very seriously. "I have so much more respect for fashion designers now," she says, "because it's hard work and it's never-ending. It's not a movie. You can't wrap it and go start something else."
Today the sister's fashion lines take up most of their time. Although Mary-Kate and Ashley are heavily involved in both, The Row (launched in 2006 and composed of high-end, almost couture-like collections of tailored minimal basics) is, according to Mary-Kate, Ashley's baby. Elizabeth and James - named after the sisters siblings - which debuted a year later and is now sold in Londons Selfridges is a more contemporary line with a lower price point. "I think more of my energy goes into Elizabeth and James," says Mary-Kate, pouring herself a glass of sparkling water. Indeed, her morning has been spent in three hours of meetings about the line with her sister and designer Robert Lee Morris, who is collaborating with them on a line of Elizabeth and James jewellery. "I'm a big fand of his stuff," says Olsen. "He's got the most amazing energy and designs because he loves it, and his passion really comes through in his art." She shakes her wrist, rattling the bangles on it. "Robert actually gave these to me for my birthday," she says, beaming a wide smile.
Many people, in fact, don't know that Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen - who are also releasing a coffee-table book, Influence, featuring new photographs of them by Rankin and for which they interviewed 22 people who inspire them, including Christian Louboutin, Lauren Hutton, John Galliano and photographer Terry Richardson - are behind The Row and Elizabeth and James, and, now that they are finally in control of their own image, that's just the way they like it. "That's the main reason we didn't put our names on it," says Mary-Kate, pulling a cigarette from a new pack just fetched by the waiter. "The way my sister and I approach business is that if the product is good, it will sell. If not, then you go back to square one." She exhales, taking care to blow the smoke away from the table. "I'm happy that people recognise the designs for the clothing and not for the name, because I think that is how fashion should be anyway: if it is a good piece, it's just a good piece."
But Olsen has not completely abandoned the profession that first made her famous. Following a recurring part on the sitcom Weeds, about a suburban marijuana-dealing mother, she can next be seen in The Wackness, a film about an inner-city new-age, pot-smoking hippy who floats around Central Park in diaphanous dresses babbling esoteric nonsense. The film won critical acclaim at Sundance this year and Olsen, who shares a passionate kiss with Sir Ben Kingsley (playing a thereapist), hopes it marks the beginning of a more mature movie career. "I didn't know I loved acting until I stepped away from it," she says. "But I studied it in college, I read about six scripts a week, and I audition. There is always a fear about starting something again and there were reservations from some people. I know that going into it, and before they meet me, they might think of me differenrently and have a preconceived idea of what I'm going to do. But it's about the work, not about me, and I think that's important: speaking for yourself without saying anything."
Speaking for herself without saying anything is something Mary-Kate has been refining for over a decade: she is intensely private and, with good reason, selective about the aspects of her personal life she chooses to discuss. For instance, her stint in rehab in 2004 is off-limits today. She will, however, talk about her relationship with her twin who, contrary to many reports, she does not live with (Mary-Kate just moved into an apartment on the west side of Manhattan, by the Hudson River, in a warehouse). "It's so much healthier and better for our relationship when we don't live together and we just find that's how it works best: you get to enjoy each others company more and not talk about work all day," she says. But the sisters relationship is as close as it's ever been. "She's my best friend," Mary-Kate says. "No one will ever know what it's like to be a twin unless you're a twin. She's the closest person to me and I don't think anyone could be as close to me as she is. It's a connection that most people will never find or never have. I'm lucky to have her."
Close friends of Mary-Kate speak of her in glowing terms. Mary-Kate is one of the most genuine women I have ever know, says good friend Nicole Richie. She's truly a free spirit and I admire her ability to express that through fashion. She never fails to put a smile on my face. Lauren Hutton is an admirer, too. When Mary-Kate bites into something, you can't look away. Her committed concentration shows that she will be one of our most riveting actresses if that's what she wants. I think she has quite an emotional range, because of how much she has already survived, an entire life under a magnifying glass. She's fearless and brave when it comes to fashion, which is what youth is for. I live in The Row because it's so comfortable and female - outright sexy!
It's safe to assume that Mary-Kate is referring to friends like these when, in response to a question about her apparent ability to handle all the attention levelled at her without panicking, she says, "I panic in private. I panic with the people I'm supposed to panic with."
Mary-Kates is a compelling, old-world differentness. And it's evident not just in the way she dresses, but in the way she talks and even moves. At the photo shoot for this story she danced with a quixotic abandon to the Rolling Stones, The Cure and Amy Winehouse, sometimes seeming like a little girl with a dressing-up box. She clearly loves fahion; she was very quick to get the looks, very relaxed in front of the camera and, by the end of the day, was rolling around on the floor with photographer Matthias Vriens and giving one of the ELLE assistants her lip balm.
Although the media, especially in America, has documented her life from it's beginning, her apppearances on gossip websites and tabloids have dramatically increased this year since it was reported that the masseuse who found Heath Ledgers body phoned Olsen before she called the emergency services. Apart from a succinct statement issued shortly afterwards, Mary-Kate has refused to comment on the event.
And why should she? It's precisely such intransigence that has served Olsen well for so long and, unlike almost all of her peers, she is a businesswoman upon whose tiny shoulders rests not just the success of the odd movie here or album there, but the weight of (half of) one of the more powerful entertainment companies in the world (in 2007 Forbes ranked the girls as the 11th richest women in entertainment, with an estimated joint net worth of 100 million). We're things to go the way of, say, Amy Winehouse, it's safe to assume that parents wouldn't reach quite so readily for the tween-orientated Olsen merchandise lining the shelves of over 5,500 stores worldwide. I ask Olsen how she has seen the reaction to, and treatment of, fame change in her lifetime. "It's interesting because I always think about that to be honest," she says, stubbing out her cigarette on the sole of her shoe and reaching immediatly for another. "It used to be so glamorous. I was speaking to Bob Colacello [ex-editor of Interview maganzine, Vanity Fair contributor and Andy Warhol confidante] for our book, and he said it best, The word celebrity used to mean to celebrate. But that's clearly, she smiles ruefully and exhales a plume of smoke, not what it means anymore."
"I don't sell my story, and I never will," she continues. "I don't feel the need to tell whatever magazine that what they're saying is false. The other day, I stopped by this bar with two friends for five minutes to say hello to someboday. As we were coming out, there was a crowd of paparazzi so we all ran to the car because I don't like to be photographed. I'm always that way, no matter what. I went to jump in and slipped because there was a car seat in the car and I couldn't grab on to anything. I literally fell to the ground and then got up and jumped back in. But, of course, the next day I got calls saying, There's a video of you falling out of a vehicle! Then it's I was wasted and going out on a drinking or partying binge. It's always something."
The day is heating up and Olsen has things she needs to do - including preparing for a trip she's taking in two days with Ashley for their birthday - so we bring our conversation to a close. "A bunch of our friends are flying out to Nashville and taking a bus to Bonnaroo [a music festival in Tennessee]," she says, happily. "There are, like, six bunk beds and a queen bed in the back. We have Rock Band set up on the bus. I do vocals and I'm pretty good at guitar. After I finished the [ELLE] photo shoot yesterday I wanted to unwind but I didn't know what to do so I sat down in front of the drums and just started beating the s**t out of them." She laughs again, throwing her head back, then sighs quietly. "You know, to laugh with your friends is so much fun," she says, "And it keeps you going until the next laugh, you know?"
The Wackness is out on 24 August. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's book, Influence, will be out next year.
See Mary-Kate in action on the ELLE covershoot at ELLEUK.COM. Just click on link for an access-all-areas film of the day.
ELLE UK Magazine
September 2008
