Interview with Ashley Olsen

Ashley Olsen talked to Boston Globes for a quick interview about her and Mary Kate's book influence and fashion. Enjoy!

Q. When was it that you really started paying attention to designers?
A.I went to my first fashion week when I was 17. I think I went to Calvin Klein, and Oscar de la Renta, and I was completely blown away.

Q. Do you see yourselves staying focused on fashion, do you think you want to go back to acting, or combine the two?
A. I like building brands, so for me it’s building the brands that my sister and I are working on, which are Elizabeth and James, and the Row. Once I have more time, then I’ll start looking at what else I’d like to do. There’s obviously a lot of things I want to do, study, and continue learning about. But right now this is something that I think I can really focus on. I don’t have time to be stepping away to work on a movie.

Q. Do you find that it’s sometimes detrimental to your fashion career that you’re an Olsen twin?
A. It opened a lot of doors in the beginning, because people are curious, so that helped. But automatically people will write what they want to write. It was hard at first. When we started the Row I said, ‘I don’t want anyone to know I’m behind it,’ but you can’t lie to the people you’re selling to.

Q. How involved are you in the line? Are the two of you sketching and designing?
A. We have a very small team, so we’re as involved as anyone can get. We’re working on it every day.

Q. Are the two of you equally invested in it?
A. It’s up and down. It depends on our schedules, it depends on what we’re focusing on at the moment. Lately I’ve been a little more involved in the Row based on our schedules.

Q. Were you surprised at the access you had to designers like Karl Lagerfeld for your book, “Influence”?
A. I wasn’t quite sure who was going to respond, but basically everyone we reached out to wanted to be involved. For us, it was amazing. The book actually changed over time; we went through several different concepts. In the end everyone got their own section.