We are officially BACK! And what better way to kick off our new season than with Mary-Kate and Ashley doing the thing they love most: fashion!
On February 28th, 2001, Mary-Kate and Ashley debuted their much-anticipated fashion line at Walmart with a half hour fashion show on Fox (ABC?) Family called "Fashion Forward." The show was hosted by the twins and their costars from Winning London, Eric Jungmann and Brandon Tyler. It also featured musical performances by an obscure band called Gotti 13, "behind the scenes" of the making of the show, and interviews with Mary-Kate, Ashley, and their costume designer Judy Swartz.
Lani taped this TV special when she was a kid, but Becca had never seen it until now as an adult. And we'll just say, some things don't hold up so well. The pushing of heteronormativity on pre-teen girls is especially jarring to watch now and leads us to a long discussion on what exactly was meant by "Real Fashion for Real Girls." We also talk about what the Mary-Kate and Ashley Walmart line meant to us as kids and the great power of celebrity clothing lines.
Also, we've officially launched our Patreon! You can now support us and have access to monthly bonus episodes, video versions of our weekly podcasts, early access to content, and sneak peaks of future episodes! We're so excited to have you on this journey with us :)
EPISODE LINKS:
Watch Fashion Forward on YouTube:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Article, "The Olsen Inc" (Jan 30th 2000)
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Becca: @beccaroth
Lani: @laniharms
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