Endlessly-fascinating Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen are a study in duality. And not just because there are two of them! New York magazine touches on this phenomenon in its new issue, out today:

They have been selling Formica bedroom sets in pastel colors, but they worship Ghesquière.
Indeed, there's something about the Olsens — their lives and their strange fashion sense — including their strange new fashion line, The Row — that smacks of split personalities.
Is it because they've grown up in front of our eyes — but have a mulit-million dollar empire — that they seem to be weird little girls and smart business women at the same time? And about their style — what is Olsen style? New York's Amy Larocca attempts to explain:
Mary-Kate might wear ten kooky rings, Ashley just two or three... Their signature look mixes Edie Beale with Balenciaga, Johnny Depp, and John Galliano... They've raised accessorizing to a form of high, glamorous art. If the Olsens' style resembles anyone at all, it's not Lindsay Lohan or Mandy Moore or any of their other presumptive peers—they dress like sittings editors at French Vogue.
Which is what ups the intrigue around their clothing line, The Row: It's basically made up of a bunch of super expensive t-shirts. And the occasional fur coat. It's highbrow and lowbrow, casual and luxe. We're used to seeing Mary-Kate's "fashion gremlin" (as the article calls it) look, but somehow The Row doesn't exactly reflect that. Says Mary-Kate:
[The Row] was my sister's baby, and of course I wanted to do whatever I could to help her.
In other words: That ain't my clothing line! It bores me!

Says Ashley:

When we were growing up, it was always about being appropriate... [In college] I was studying architecture and psychology and I loved it, but I kept thinking about T-shirts and how to make the perfect one.
In other words: Even though I am interested in lots of academic subjects, I also like being shallow.

They're a mystery wrapped in an enigma, light and dark, annoying and likable. Plus, not to get all 70s on you — they're Geminis. Phew! We're tired.

Attack of the Fashion Gremlins [NYMag]