Gossip Teen

Newsweek magazine profiles Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and their burgeoning fashion empire in this week’s issue.

While the two sisters are often dismissed as “pint sized,”  the business they have built is anything but. Working to keep their celebrity status low key, they’ve dug in to the fashion world and are earning respect.

The 24 year-olds are passionate about New York’s once flourishing garment district that has now virtually gone away. The Olsen’s say they want to really be representative of the American design and manufacturing that once was.

“I really believe in our being able to create here and utilize the skills that people have here,” says Ashley. “The skill set is here. Our main issue is that some of the machinery is gone, so some knitwear is produced in Italy. But whether it’s clothing or cars, I believe in manufacturing as close to home as possible.”

Ashley and Mary-Kate have gotten a huge boost when First Lady Michelle Obama wore a skirt from The Row when she appeared on The View last week. They’ve had to work hard for the recognition and that certainly helps.

Wintry scenes with snowmen and trees sprinkled with sparkling white snow are just some of the idealized holiday images Taylor Swift has conjured up for her Christmas cards. The “Speak Now” singer has a very successful line with American Greetings and these new card feature “joyous winter scenes, delicious holiday cookies and, of course, snow-covered Christmas trees,” according to a press release, as well as Taylor’s signature “heart hands” image.

The boxed sets of cards are in stores now.

Check out more photos of the different cards below. Read more »

Taylor Swift is a marketing executive’s dream come true. Everything she puts her name to turns into a mega-seller – just like her latest album, Speak Now. The 20 year old country singer is set to launch a scent collection in 2011 and hopes are it will turn out to be as successful as her sundress line with L.E.I. or her greeting card line. Said Swift:

“I have always loved how fragrance can shape a memory the way certain scents remind you of events and people that are imprinted in your thoughts,” Taylor said in a statement. “Lately I’ve been having fun experimenting with combining some of my favorite scents, so I’m really excited about working with Elizabeth Arden to develop my own unique fragrance.”

Taylor is just one of many musicians who offer a fragrance bearing their name. Justin Bieber recently announced his entry into the perfume biz, as did Lady Gaga. Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Gwen Stefani and Fergie are just a few other musical celebs with a signature scent for sale.

What do you think?

Too much Taylor? Or never enough?

It isn’t often that you find a fifteen year-old as CEO of their own company but Ava Anderson is the exception. The high school-er has launched her own skincare line after finding out that many brands labelled as ‘natural’ were anything but.

After becoming a toxic ingredient junkie and sweeping the cosmetic aisles for pure choices – not to mention Mom and Grandma’s makeup bags – frustration led the precocious blonde to invent her own products that passed all non-toxic standards.

“Through a family friend, we found a manufacturer with research facilities that could develop and produce products to my standards. It was a great challenge to develop these revolutionary formulas and I had to reject many proposed formulations,” says Anderson.

The non-toxic beauty line, called simply Ava Anderson, is available online at her website or you can start your own Ava business, selling her line and making some cash for yourself. Check out this if you are interested in sharing the non-toxic message.

[image: StyleList]

Ashley Tisdale is bringing her Blondie Girl Productions a little more business. The actress just inked a deal with RelativityReal to develop, produce and create projects for the small screen. The partnership between the two companies could be very successful for the High School Musical star.

No more Aliens In The Attic nonsense.

Jesse Eisenberg may be uncomfortable watching himself on screen, but lots of other people aren’t. His latest movie Zombieland, costarring Woody Harrelson and Abigail Breslin, just took the weekend box office number one spot bringing in $25 million on opening weekend. Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs came in second (again!) and the double shot of Pixar Toy Story & Toy Story 2 took third in 3-D. Ellen Page’s latest – the roller derby coming-of-age Whip It! was a disappointing seventh place.

1. Zombieland

2. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

3. Toy Story/Toy Story 2

4. The Invention of Lying

5. Surrogates

7. Capitalism: A Love Story (tied)

7. Whip It!

8. Fame

9. The Informant

10. Love Happens

What did you see this weekend?

Hollywood business arrangements are often complicated and messyand now Disney starlet Vanessa Hudgens is embroiled in a lawsuit with a former producer who she feels is misrepresenting his status with her. Producer Johnny Veira had orignally sued the High School Musical  star however that suit was settled on April 29th, 2009. Hudgens legal action contends:

[...] false advertising and appropriation of name and likeness, by using photographs of Hudgens on his company MySpace page, ones that suggest she’s an active client.  Viera is also accused of violating their prior settlement agreement.

He’s also banned from “falsely holding himself out to the public as someone with whom Hudgens is currently signed.”

Injunctions, damages, and other serious monetary penalties are being asked for as compensation for Hudgens. We will keep you updated as we find out more.