If someone uttered the words "coffee" and "Olsen" in a sentence, one image would appear in most minds: a raggedy-looking (yet oh so chic) Mary-Kate or Ashley donning oversized sunglasses and carrying a coffee cup wider in circumference than one of the sisters' own limbs. The twins' signature paparazzi shot became Starbucks' best advertisement, but MK&A recently introduced a new kind of coffee to the world--a coffee table book, Influence, about the creative geniuses who most inspired the twin moguls' own lives.
Celebrity branding has reached overkill--the famous have given the world books, perfume, shoes, toys, even dishware. Most consumers struggle to find anything genuine in branded products and often see these products as pure monetary incentive for the names behind it all. However, Influence offers quite a different story. The collection of intimate and thought-provoking interviews with 21 of the sisters' most admired creative thinkers feels authentic and fresh. It reads intimate and appears constructed with savvy and smarts (clearly a project sparked by passion, not money).
Within the pages of Influence, MK&A personally conducted the interviews in addition to writing full-page introductions for each inspirational subject. The book includes superstars in the worlds of fashion, art, and design including Peter Lindbergh, Karl Lagerfeld, Diane von Furstenberg, Terry Richardson, and Lauren Hutton. Each influencer's section contains a collage-like compilation of personal and commercial photographs and examples of the creator's works. The book's inside covers feature a plastering of Polaroids of the twins posing with their interview subjects.
Considered two of the world's most influential young figures themselves, the twins are magicians of style, constantly breaking conventional rules and staying true to their ideas despite harsh criticism. But fans looking to get their Olsen fix will be disappointed. Yes, two sections of the book are dedicated to the sisters (each names the other as a major life influence--big surprise there), but the book is not about them. Instead, it takes the reader on a journey with some of the most forward-thinking creators of our culture, people whose thought processes seem both wacky and genius at the same time and force readers to view life from an upside-down point of view. If you've ever dreamed of being a fly on the wall in Lagerfeld's Parisian couture house or in a club listening in on the conversations of fashion heiress, Margherita Missoni, Influence provides the next best thing. You'll laugh, you'll scratch your head, you might even cry-but most of all, you will be inspired.
