'We think big... huge!': Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen pose in pyjamas as they reveal secrets behind their billion dollar empire

By Daily Mail Reporter


Ironic: Ashley, left, and Mary-Kate Olsen, right, posed for the April 2011 edition of Vogue in polka-dot pyjamas


They may be just over 5ft, but Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are now certainly standing tall in the fashion world.

The 24-year-old twin sisters have opened up about their billion dollar empire that includes three fashion lines - The Row, Elizabeth & James and Olsenboye - in the latest issue of Vogue magazine.

The pair, who are known for their kooky style, pose in polka-dot Tom Ford pyjamas in the accompanying photo shoot.

In the kooky shot, they are pictured balancing on stilts on the beach while clutching empty wine glasses.


The blonde-haired sisters also posed for famed photographer Bruce Weber in dusty pink dresses from from their own range while they peeped over an antique Brigitte Bardot book.

The sisters insist that unlike some celebrity brands, they are heavily involved in every aspect of the design process.

The pair were were initially met with cynicism when the started out in the fashion world.

'We hired a showroom and talked buyers through,' Ashley says.

'People would drill us about fabric, where we'd make it,' Mary-Kate adds. 'The first season, customers bought it, so the stores came back. And drilled us again.'

Pretty in pink: The blonde-haired sisters also posed for famed photographer Bruce Weber in dusty pink dresses from their own label, The Row, while they peeped over an antique Brigitte Bardot book

But despite their lack of formal training, they say they were well qualified for the job.

'It's a fair question, but Dualstar started when we were six. And we had a collection with Walmart at 12, which was the upper tier of the tween market. It was before celebrity designers.'

Making their acting début in the sitcom Full House at the age of nine months, the girls created a Mary-Kate and Ashley empire through their own company Dualstar Entertainment, raking in millions of dollars.


But their acting careers took a back seat to their designing dreams and they have spent the last few years creating several clothing lines.

Elizabeth and James (named after their brother and sister) is their casual contemporary line, while Olsenboye is a travel-themed mix and match collection.

However, The Row is their upmarket line of clothing that has done extremely well in the three years since it was launched.

They described how growing up on the sets of Full House, Two Of A Kind and So Little Time has informed their style.

'We had to change twelve times every episode,' Mary-Kate recalled. 'There would be five or six racks of clothes there, and they cut them down to fit us - even Chanel.

'At that age when you become so crazy about how you look, sometimes there were three or four fittings.'

Fashionistas: The girls acting careers took a back seat to their designing dreams and they have spent the last few years creating several clothing lines


She added: 'We had our observations about fashion changing, when it went from being so Eighties to the slip dress and the dark lip. We'd see students coming back from college in grunge.

'And then Lori Loughlin [on Full House] had all this great Donna Karan.'

The twins have had control of Dualstar since they were 18, and consider fashion - rather than acting - their future.

And despite their early success, they are still full of ambition.
'The thing about us,' Mary-Kate explains, 'is we think big. Huge.'

Mary-Kate also goes on to say that the sisters not only share the same looks but also the same feelings.

'Some of our memories are shared,' she says.

'We don’t know what actually happened to whom. One of us was stung by a bee, but we can’t remember who, because we both felt it.'

With their fashion business thriving, the twins best known for their roles on popular series Full House, have retired their acting chops for now.

But Ashley says that the girls look back on their television work fondly.

'I am so proud of what we did. We made kids smile every day,' she said. 'But we had done the most we could do.'

The mini-mogul also pans the L.A paparazzi, saying that her and her sister prefer to live in New York, where the photographers are much more polite.

'The press here in New York respect you more. It was the worst in Los Angeles when we got our license. They would follow us. They knew where we lived. And you don’t know who these people are. People just out of jail.'


source:dailymail