The Row for Toms Shoes

 (Image Credit: LDN Fashion, Toms Shoes)

I've been a fan of MK&A (Mary Kate and Ashley, duh.) since their Michelle Tanner days. I religiously followed their careers from solving any crime by dinnertime to Two of a Kind to Mary Kate's brief stint on Weeds, so I was thrilled to hear about the twins teaming up with Toms Shoes for a collaborative collection.

As I've mentioned before, Toms Shoes is a company that runs on the philosophy one for one: for each pair of shoes sold, a pair is given to a child in need, and this collaboration is no exception to that rule.

Made with cashmere and Italian wool, the collection is currently available for purchase on the Toms website, and prices range from $140-150.

Readers, what do you think of the collection? Is $150 too much to pay for a pair of slip ons?

Designing Women, Couture in the City Fashion Blog

Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen (source)

Call it a monopoly on the fashion industry...Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen are now appealing to almost everyone in the fashion world. Best known for their popular line of clothes for young girls and pre-teens at Wal-Mart (and of course for their long run on TGIF and for producing a gazillion movies and television shows for younger viewers), now their older big sisters' can get a little taste of Olsen style too.

Recently MK and Ash debuted a new line called Elizabeth and James, named after their younger siblings. This line is said to be "more affordable" than Ashley's other women's line, The Row, which offers truly upscale ready to wear items. Elizabeth and James will be launched this fall at stores like Neiman Marcus, Intermix and Bergdorf Goodman, with t-shirts starting at around $40.

While sometimes MK and Ash have questionable fashion taste for their own personal style (bag lady couture, goth vamp and trashy college student are only a few appropriate adjectives to describe their look), I think that Elizabeth and James will be fabulous. When the Olsen twins first started to become more visible around 2003, they were fresh-faced and totally cute, so I know that deep down, they have good style, and maybe they are just trying to find themselves through fashion.

So what do you think...will the Olsen's foray into "affordable upscale fashion" be a success?