Cynthia Rowley: A touch of fun, a sense  of whimsy

She designed her first dress at seven and in school was sometimes more concerned about how the teachers matched their clothes than the lessons at hand. She sold her first designs when she was a student at the Art Institute of Chicago. She once adorned a sweater with bottle caps, and made a sundress of tablecloth checks with straps from plastic fruits and vegetables. Her clothes have been described from being witty to flirty to whimsical; her runway shows always surprise and are never boring.

And in true Cynthia Rowley style, she wore a simple black cotton dress paired with the brightest electric blue leggings during our interview several days ago in New York.

This is a woman who once said, “You can take the girl out of the Midwest, but you can’t take the Midwest out of the girl.”

It must be that Midwest sense of humor — and the contemporary art that she adores and collects — that feed Rowley’s designs: flirty and feminine one moment, elegant and sophisticated the next, and totally modern all at once. After all, she also believes that “dresses are the easiest thing to wear.” You just slip one on, throw in accessories and you’re done. 

In a 1997 interview for Crain’s successful women under 40, Rowley said, “First I was out, because status was in. Then I was cool, because status was dead. Now status is in again, and I’m a ‘designer brand.’ Go figure.”

Everything Rowley does carries a light touch of whimsy yet this slip of a woman — she really is very thin — heads a multi-million-dollar business empire that she created way back in the Eighties, nurtured through the Nineties when she became fashion’s “It” girl and today spans boutiques in New York, LA, Chicago, Tokyo and upmarket department stores across the world. The Council of Fashion Designers of America has conferred on Rowley several awards, and to date, she has co-authored books including The Swell Dressed Party, Home Swell Home and last year’s Slim: A Fantasy Memoir.

“A party at its best is a place to be a little larger than life — a funnier, prettier, bawdier — and the Swell hostess at her best sets the stage for her guests to try a few high-wire moves of their own,” writes Rowley. 

Her vision is larger than life, too, and her designs turn the ordinary — a bag or a pair of shoes, for instance — into something just a little cuter, a little prettier. 

“I like clothes that are very feminine, but with an added twist,” she once said. “I also think a woman shouldn’t have to spend a lot for great clothes; maybe it’s my Midwestern practicality coming through, but I feel there’s always a need for great dresses at good prices.”

Now, Rowley turns her sights on the other side of dressing up — makeup and fragrance.

Scent Of Spring

Avon and New York-based Rowley last week launched her perfumes, Flower and Petal, to international journalists attending Avon’s Hello Tomorrow Global Summit.

How did the collaboration begin? “The girls at Vogue introduced us, they came to my studio and said, ‘We have this top-secret project and we think you would be the perfect person.’ They were like the matchmakers. I didn’t know who it was for a long time; when I knew it was Avon, I was so excited because I thought it was the perfect partnership. Avon has been a part of my life so long.”

Rowley grew up around Avon products in Barrington, Illinois, and her mom was an Avon lady who would hold makeup parties at home. 

“I’m so excited because I feel that Avon is just forging ahead. I feel like I am constantly surprised by how much Avon does to empower women worldwide. Just the breadth of the company, how many women’s lives they change every day is just amazing.”

The cosmetics giant and Rowley worked together for a year and a half on these fragrances, while Rowley worked with her eight-year-old daughter Kit for Petal. The idea was to have a mother (Flower) and daughter (Petal) perfumes. Who got the final say on the Petal fragrance? Why, Kit of course! Cynthia describes taking her daughter to the perfume house in France where the French perfumers would literally run down to their lab when Kit said, “No, no, no,” to a scent and bring back a fresh batch of testers until she leaned back, nodded her head and said, “Yes, that’s it.”

 “I wanted to do a daughter fragrance but something that I could wear too,” Rowley says. “We had some ideas on translating Flower into Petal, but to get the stamp of approval, I brought my eight-year-old to the fragrance house and she was very specific and opinionated. She knew exactly what it should be.  She immediately learned how to smell (samples), how to clear her palate and then smell something else.”

These days, Kit carries around little testers in her backpack to school.

Rowley relates that while her daughter is just like every other normal kid, she does things that amuse her no end. “One time, she didn’t know I was watching her, I caught her putting ice in a towel, roll it up, tie both ends with ribbons and then spray it with perfume. She put it under her neck and went, ‘Aaah.’ She sleeps with a lavender neck roll on her bed! It’s so weird coz I don’t do stuff like that.”

While Flower is a little on the heavy side of florals (with Casablanca lily as the main note), Petal is a lighter, more playful version with lily of the valley.

The fragrance project is very close to her heart because of Kit, she said during the launch at Tavern on the Green in Central Park.

“I remember that my mom wore a distinctive fragrance on big occasions when I was a kid. She used to spritz a little on me before she went out for the night, and I always associated it with something special — even when I stayed home with the babysitter. It was a bonding experience. I wanted to create something to share with my own daughters and for others to share with all of the women in their lives — grandmothers, granddaughters, aunts, nieces, sisters, and more.”

From Fashion To Beauty — and Back

Avon has been doing the makeup for Rowley’s past runway shows, such as fall 2007, spring and fall 2008. For the last spring show, models wore Rowley’s True Color limited-edition makeup, a line that includes eyeshadow, compact powder blush, cream blush, pressed powder, nail polish, lip gloss and lipstick.

Her shades are the most gorgeous pinks, reds and plums — rich colors that any woman, any age can wear anywhere. Rowley says her makeup line is an extension of her fashion collection. She doesn’t just design “for the neck down” but also for the woman’s face and nails. “I think of the whole presentation. It’s a completion of the runway collection.”

For the colors, Rowley collaborated with celebrity makeup artist Jillian Dempsey who describes herself as “the finger-friendly makeup artist,” as she dabs color on her eyelids with her fingertips. Dempsey, who is married to Grey’s Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey, is the company’s global creative color director. Since 2006, Dempsey has been working with Avon to revitalize the brand’s color shades (there are about a thousand new color formulas a year).

For Rowley’s collection, the two women would send each other color samples between New York (Rowley) and Los Angeles (Dempsey).

“Jillian has a lab in her house where she develops stuff and she would mix up a little pot or something and send it to me,” Rowley says. “And I would send her fabric swatches and color pantones and runway sketches. It was a great collaboration really.”

The flowers that adorn the packaging of her Avon True Color line are a running theme. She also designed an umbrella, a tote bag and bangles exclusively for Avon reps. (“Sell them, sell them!” we wail to the Avon executives with Rowley during the interview.)

“If you think about what’s happening in fashion trend-wise, the most important thing for spring is florals. That’s why I think it’s a great partnership because I can bring to Avon what’s happening to fashion at this moment. We started the collaboration a year and a half ago, but it’s right on trend for what’s happening in fashion now.”

While her fashion design borders on the brilliantly fun, her makeup is very down-to-earth. Her blush, for instance, lets you achieve that simple flushed look as if you just ran 10 kilometers in very cold weather.

“I wanted the girls to just have like a windburn, pink color across the cheeks,” she says, holding up a blush stick.

For her spring runway show, the focus was more on the lips and her favorite shade is a very pink gloss.

There are 320 scientists working at Avon’s $100-million R&D facilities in Suffern, New York, many of them prizewinners in their fields. There are a thousand new color formulas each year.

From makeup artist Jillian Dempsey’s point of view, “Shade is everything in a lipstick.”

From scientist Russ Wyborski’s point of view, “It starts with science, it ends with beauty.” 

From fashion and now cosmetic designer Cynthia Rowley’s point of view, “Even if you didn’t get enough sleep, you need a little bit of sun, you put it on and it kind of gives you a little glow.”

Does she like the idea of developing cosmetics for the mass market? After all, she also collaborated with Target a few years back. “I love it. And I love that Avon is a sort of alternative; it’s not really ‘mass.’ The way that Avon goes into women’s homes and lives is so intimate. It creates a community, it’s a modern way to shop because you’re incorporating your friends and family. It’s a 121-year-old company but this idea is the modern, convenient, inclusive way to think about all your beauty products.”

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In the Philippines, customers can order Cynthia Rowley’s makeup line through Avon Ladies. Avon will release its Anew Retroactive Plus Day and Night Cream in March, Ultra Moisture Rich Mousse Lipstick in August, Jillian Dempsey’s Professional Collection Eye Makeup in September, Pro To Go Lipstick in October, Bond Girl Fragrance and the Empowerment Bracelet in November.

For inquiries, call 864-2900 in Metro Manila or their toll-free number 1-800-1-888-2866 (AVON) anywhere in the Philippines; e-mail helpdesk.ph@avon.com