The Olsen twins have had their share of controversy after growing up from the adorable child stars we all knew in the ’80s and ’90s; Mary-Kate found herself in the headlines after it was reported that she was dating 42-year old Olivier Sarkozy, the brother of former French president Nicolas, and both sisters have been under scrutiny over the years for their extraordinarily thin frames. But one thing has stayed constant in their lives despite the media attention: their love for fashion.
The girls have been designing since they were kids, and say that all started during their time on “Full House”. It eventually led to a passion that couldn’t be ignored, and they began working on their own line of clothing and accessories as tweens.
“We were designing clothes for ourselves as we were so petite. So I think that is when we became obsessed with fit, and now the obsession has become a profession,” said Mary-Kate in a recent interview.
The girls have co-founded four fashion lines: The Row, Elizabeth and James, Olsenboye and StyleMint. For now, they say, they are focused more on The Row than anything else, as well they should be; the twins won the distinguished 2012 Womenswear Designers of the Year award at the CFDA Awards last year for their work.
The twins are so busy that it’s hard for them to keep up with their old friends from “Full House”; they were M.I.A. last year during a reunion of the cast. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have fond memories of their childhoods.
“We were 9 months old when we started, so fame has always been part of our lives,” Ashley said. “There wasn’t any weirdness where we decided that we wanted to be famous. Then as we got older, we were very fortunate that we could hire and work with amazing people who want to protect us.”
Image: David Shankbone/Wikimedia Commons
