It is rare to see Mary-Kate Olsen wearing anything that is not a) frame-swamping, and b) cut from black cloth. But then again: there are few things quite like celebrating a birthday to lift someone out of a gloom. The designer–who turned 38 yesterday–was photographed on her birthday strolling through New York with her boyfriend PC Valmorbida, dressed in a gym T-shirt and sweatpants with a floral scarf crumpled into her fist and red satin ballet flats.
And so: the so-called “pop of red” trend is not yet dead. The Olsens’ most recent collections at The Row have said as much. Resort 2025 put forth shaggy robe coats secured with sanguine tasseled belts, while fall 2024 disrupted lots of monochrome tailoring with bright jolts of scarlet tights and squoval pumps. These things have set up a direct line to a specific kind of metropolitan, cool girl literati. I.e., Fitzcarraldo subscribers who know their Annie Ernauxs from their Phoebe Philos.
The best thing about this pap shot, though, is that Olsen was photographed carrying a shopping bag with her own brand’s logo emblazoned across its front. The attitude was casual and unceremonious, as if she had been running errands on the high street, which is perhaps the ultimate in aspirational shopping. She knows that she is the best advertisement, and she probably landed a significant discount, too.