On Tuesday, Oct.22, fashion designer Cynthia Rowley came to Southern Methodist University where she talked with SMU students about her career in fashion. After finishing her education at the Art Institute of Chicago, the fashion icon packed a U-haul, and moved to New York City to start her world famous fashion brand. Since then, she has gone on to design various ready-to-wear clothing lines, has been in Vogue multiple times, and has had celebrities like Julia Roberts wear her clothes.

Chloe Casdorph from The Daily Campus sat down with Rowley to talk about the highlights of her fashion career.

Chloe Casdorph: I read that you originally started as a painter in college and then switched to fashion. What made you switch to fashion?
Cynthia Rowley: I felt like being an artist was going to be very solitary. I really love working as a team. I love the energy and the excitement of working with a big group of people and getting everybody pumped. And then being able to have that moment where we’re all celebrating something together.

Casdorph: What advice do you have for people who want to start a fashion business like you?
Rowley: Just do it. There’s really no other way.

Casdorph: From what I’ve seen online, you own 100% of your business. Not to mention with no debt. You are the one making all the deals, meeting customers at pop-ups, etc. You could have sold out or sold some of your company. Why didn’t you?
Rowley: I love my job. The reason why I never took a partner was because I didn’t want somebody else to be able to crush my dreams and say ‘This isn’t working, we’re done.’ I always took the responsibility to run the company so that I could have that creative freedom to do what I wanted.

Casdorph: On your website, under the newest arrivals section, the clothes have a lot of different patterns, buckles on skirts and tops, and buttons. The belt buckles and earrings, along with some other accessories, are very uniquely shaped. What was the decision to do this and what was the inspiration behind it, if any at all?
Rowley: I hope our stuff always looks different. I think it was pretty much on trend when we were making cargo pants before anybody was making cargo pants, and they were selling out. We were doing things with big flowers on them before people were doing that. And then the same thing…they were selling out. So I think it’s just important to have a really strong point of view and just do things because it’s like a sixth sense or something. It’s a feeling. It’s emotional. I think people look at our clothes and they think it makes them feel joyous.
I think that sort of started during Covid where everybody was doing gray and doing sweat clothes, and we were doing color and happy things. I just think, “What’s the point if it’s not gonna make you happy?” We try to do experiments and do new things.
I think it’s really fun to take a kernel of an idea and then just experiment, but when you think you’ve taken it as far as you can take it, you gotta push it a little bit more and see where it takes you and just keep going with it. Sometimes it doesn’t work, but if it pushes you to be more original than inventive, then that’s where sort of the magic happens.
With the buckle specifically, I was looking at a kilt, and I always loved kilts, but I was like, “What else could we do?” I didn’t want it in plaid, and I didn’t want to do it on a skirt. So we did it on little tops and dresses.

Casdorph: In the beginning, Julia Roberts was one of the first celebrities to wear your clothing. What did that do for your brand after Roberts was seen wearing your stuff?
Rowley: That was pretty pivotal. The funny thing is she just went into one of my stores and bought it. I didn’t even know. I was looking in a People magazine when I found out she wore it. Recently she was doing one of those Vogue, My Life through Looks, and that was one of her pivotal looks; for me and her.

Casdorph: One of the many things you’re known for is designing outfits for celebrities. What have been some of your favorite looks you’ve designed and what is the process for designing?
Rowley: We dress a lot of people. I have dressed a lot of amazing people through the years, and I’m always very grateful. I especially like the funny ladies like Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, Heidi Gardner, Chloe Feynman, and Rachel Feinstein. We did a comedy show that was all female comedians instead of a runway show.
I think dressing someone isn’t just like dropping a look on a body. It’s really knowing that person’s personality and loving their personality. It’s not about me. It’s about them, how amazing they are.

Casdorph: You’ve been to the Met Gala. What was the process like for creating the dress that you wore?
Rowley: The theme was Charles James. We took pieces of double-faced duchess satin. We printed a beautiful bird with a ribbon. Then we cut it into strips, like two-inch strips. We hand frayed it to create a fringe, then attach those in layers on the entire dress all the way down. I think it had a black tie on the shoulder. It was really couture.