Not many designers are as famous for their wetsuits as for their wedding-worthy dresses, but Cynthia Rowley’s got the range.
Speaking with Page Six Style at the Whitney Art Party on Jan. 28 — which she’s co-sponsored and co-hosted for two consecutive years — Rowley says her brand’s aesthetic can be summed up as “sporty meets pretty.”
“I grew up in a small town in the Midwest, I sewed all my life and I never even knew that fashion was a career,” she says of her beginnings. “I loved making things; it was more like an arts and crafts project. But I would dress myself.”
While studying to become a painter at the Art Institute of Chicago, Rowley’s roommate urged her to pursue a job in clothing design instead — so she “drove a U-Haul to New York” and “never looked back.”
Now, almost four decades after the launch of her namesake label, Rowley’s dressed stars including Julia Roberts, Katy Perry, Lindsay Lohan and Janelle Monáe — not to mention scores of other customers who flock to her artsy-slash-athletic attire.
“Your closet is like a scrapbook, and when you pull something out, you remember all the good times you had in it,” she says. “So to think that there’s so many people out there in the world that have memories of wearing the clothes … that’s the best there is.”
Below, Rowley reflects on some of her greatest celebrity hits to date.
Julia Roberts (1998)
“The crazy thing about Julia Roberts wearing that dress is that I had no idea. She went into my store, she bought the dress and then everybody started saying, ‘Julia Roberts is wearing your dress!’ I was like, ‘What?!’ And when she did her 17 favorite looks of her life for Vogue, that was one of them. So that was a huge compliment.
“And I love her and she’s funny and she’s crazy and so talented. I think that’s the greatest joy for me: to be able to dress people that I really, really, really admire.”
Hilary Duff (2006)
“She was at the height of her popularity and my daughter, I think, was about 7. And she went crazy that she got to meet Hilary Duff. She was so nice to her and so lovely, and it was a real treat.”
Katy Perry (2010)
“I have been friends with Will Cotton, the painter, for forever. And he called me up and he’s like, ‘I’m shooting Katy Perry. I’m actually going to paint her for the cover of her album. And I was thinking something cupcake-y.’ So we made that cupcake dress, and I got to go and fit it on her! And that painting is in the National Portrait Gallery, so that’s kind of cool.”
Lindsay Lohan (2012)
“First of all, Lindsay Lohan, I’ve known her since she was very young. The artist Richard Phillips painted a ginormous painting of her wearing this wetsuit, which I wish I had. And so I think she was like, ‘I have a have a scene in the water [in the upcoming ‘Freaky Friday’ sequel], I’m going to get a CR wetsuit!’
“I love to see people in the wetsuits, because they look like superheroes. And Lindsay Lohan is a superhero.”
Taylor Swift (2014)
“A lot of people think when you dress a celebrity, you’re sketching, you’re fitting them, you’re toiling away and you have seamstresses working for weeks on end. But a lot of times they just go in your store and buy stuff! So Taylor, Julia Roberts, SJP, a lot of the girls — they want to support and they just go in the store and buy it. And then it’s a surprise. A happy surprise!”
Janelle Monáe (2018)
“She was only wearing black and white [at the time], and then she requested this big pink ballgown skirt. And I was like, ‘Are you sure she said pink? Pink? Hot pink?!’ And that was kind of the first time she was photographed wearing a color like that.”
Sarah Jessica Parker (2019)
“SJP is kind of my buddy. We’re West Village girls and I just love her. I think she’s brilliant and amazing and has such great style and is so iconic.
“And, you know, in ‘Sex and the City,’ there’s a scene where Charlotte wants to figure out if her boyfriend is gay or not. And they’re about to make out, and he says, is that a Cynthia Rowley dress you’re wearing? And then they’re all like, ‘He’s definitely gay. No straight guy knows who Cynthia Rowley is.’ They’re kinda right.”
Nikki Glaser (2023)
“When I dress people like Nikki Glaser or Michelle Buteau or Kristen Wiig or Maya Rudolph … I love the funny ladies. We have a crazy time — we have so much fun. And it’s their personality [shining through].”
Naomi Watts (2024)
“I love her so much. She’s brilliant and so talented, and she’s sort of tiny, like me, so we end up wearing and picking the same things. She goes in our Montauk store! I met Jane Krakowski in the Montauk store, too; she was just shopping, and now she wears stuff all the time.”
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