At the last minute, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen had to cancel their New York show due to late-arriving samples. But they feel the setback made them come up with something better: an intimate salon presentation in Paris, where they could talk editors and buyers through the collection, and an exclusive arrangement with Mircrosoft s Bing to premiere a virtual show online. You can log on at 7:30 p.m. EDT on Monday, October 4, to watch the clothes in motion, as well as see behind-the-scenes clips and hear an interview with the sisters about the origins of the collection.
"We wanted to keep it consistent, but change the silhouette a bit," Mary-Kate said about the Spring lineup. That meant Fall s corsets were out, and in was bias draping on chiffon slipdresses and silk gowns. One particularly fetching look featured a shrunken cashmere V-neck and a long silk dress worn as a skirt, its bodice pooling at the hips. Pantsuits were still front-and-center and still just as smartly cut, thanks to the New York tailor who makes them for The Row by hand. What surprised was the color palette: baby pink and a peachy foundation shade, in addition to the expected white and black.
Models wore squared-off, pointy-toed crocodile mules by Manolo Blahnik. Mary-Kate demurred when asked about a potential shoe collection, but said she and her sister do "feel strongly about underpinnings." They spent six hours getting a triangle-cup bra right for the show, and almost as long on the matching panties. It s that kind of attention to detail that can make you forget that the Olsens were celebrities before they became designers to be taken seriously.
