20 Years Later Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s Holiday In the Sun Is a Fashion Time Capsule
And maybe The Row's origin story.
The most frustrating part of the Y2K resurgence is being influenced by teenagers simply perfecting something you already wore. It’s not their fault, of course — they are mere vessels for the trend cycles perpetuated by big fashion businesses to keep us buying more and more. But before we all continue to dive headfirst into ironic tees and butterfly clips, I think it’s important to talk about history. By that, I mean Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s 2001 film Holiday in the Sun. This month, the movie (which also stars a young Megan Fox) turns 20. Upon a recent rewatch, I have a theory: This movie is one of the best representations of aspirational Y2K fashion.
The Makeup
Through the ebbs and flows of trends in the last two decades, one thing has remained a constant in my life: super shiny, almost gross-sticky lip gloss. Sure, the sexy allure of a velvet matte has certainly drained my wallet from time to time, but still I find myself in the bathroom halfway through the night pulling out a gloss like it's 2005.
Looking back at both Olsen twins and Megan Fox, I realized that the lip gloss throughout the entire movie is pristine. Ashley often smiles into a slow panning camera showing off the perfect iridescent shimmer on her lips. Mary Kate, always the subtle fashionista, prunes through scenes in a bright, clear gloss. Megan, unsurprisingly, wears the perfect pink accentuating her femme fatale character opposite the Olsens’ ingenues. The twins must have known the influence they would have over the gloss market at the time, because right around then is when their makeup line with Walmart dropped – which was filled with the goopiest tubes of lip gloss I had ever gotten my hands on.
The tube was a little squeeze bottle with a round top that always twisted off in my backpack collecting dust that I would inevitably and grossly screw back on. The gloss itself came out like toothpaste, and I would slop it on my lips with no other makeup. After putting it on, I would look into the mirror practicing a toothy smile like theirs, and for one moment, it was like I was searching for antiquities with cute boys at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas.
The Style:
There is plenty of Y2K fashion we could talk about in this movie – asymmetrical skirts paired with spaghetti strap tops, and sporty bikinis with shorts. There’s also the opening scene where Mary Kate begrudgingly boards her father’s private jet (as every teen does) wearing a Fendi bucket hat. But there was something more subtly Y2K about the fashion in this movie that speaks to a pop culture trend: slightly altered matching outfits. Throughout the entire movie, the twins are wearing versions of the same look with different cuts or lengths. In one scene, they both wear skirts with black tops — Mary Kate’s is a one-shoulder top and Ashley’s is a halter. This was something every girl band did well. Destiny’s Child, specifically, mastered the art of the matching styles with different vibes.
Then and Now:
If you take away the tropical patterns, Holiday in the Sun has some of the first sparks of the twin’s luxury brand The Row’s aesthetic. Basics that are distinguished only by a square necks and a spaghetti strap, loose pants, and light wash jeans all make an appearance in both the movie and the most recent ready-to-wear collection. Madison and Alex would absolutely have grown into these outfits. All I’m saying is that Holiday in the Sun is both a time capsule and an origin story, so let’s put some respect on its name.
