Cynthia Rowley (born July 29, 1958) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

fashion designer Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashio ...

based in the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

neighborhood of New York City.

Early life and education

Rowley is a native of

Barrington, Illinois Barrington is a village in Cook County and Lake County, Illinois, United States. The population was 10,722 at the 2020 census. A northwest suburb of Chicago, the area features wetlands, forest preserves, parks, and horse trails in a country- ...

a northwestern suburb of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. She is one of three children born to Ed Rowley, a former science teacher, and his wife, Clementine, who was a painter. Rowley made her first dress at age seven. Her grandparents included the designer of the Pabst Blue Ribbon logo and a painter. She graduated from Barrington High School and earned a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachel ...

from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1988. Rowley was kicked out of her junior year art show at SAIC because her use of wings in her design. In an interview with the C''hicago Tribune'', Rowley said that Marshall Field's had bought her first collection while she was still a student at SAIC.

Career

In 1981, Rowley won an SAIC fellowship award in her senior year and used the money to move from Chicago to New York City. She then launched her career with $3,000 in seed money from one of her grandmothers. Since Rowley launched her first

capsule collection A capsule wardrobe is a collection of clothing that is composed of interchangeable items only, to maximise the number of outfits that can be created. The aim is to have an outfit suitable for any occasion without owning excessive items of clothing ...

in 1988, has grown to include women's wear, handbags, glasses, color cosmetics, fragrance, wetsuits and swimwear, home furnishings, bedding products, and office accessories. The designer also created a line of home accessories called Swell, based on a book series she co-wrote with friend Ilene Rosenzweig, which made its debut at Target in 2003. In 2011 Rowley presented the ''Mr. Powers'' collection, a limited menswear range named after her husband Bill Powers. Rowley's fashions are presented bi-annually at

New York Fashion Week New York Fashion Week (NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning 7–9 days when international fashion collections are shown to buyers, the press, and the general pub ...

. Signature Cynthia Rowley stores are in New York City, Chicago, Montauk, Palm Beach, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, and Newport Beach as well as at the company's web store. Rowley's designs were described by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as "flirty, vibrantly colored dresses and tops in wispy materials" that have "a whiff of the carefree, simple spirit" of

Claire McCardell Claire McCardell (May 24, 1905 – March 22, 1958) was an American fashion designer of ready-to-wear clothing in the twentieth century. She is credited with the creation of American sportswear. Early life McCardell was the eldest of four childr ...

Awards

The Council of Fashion Designers of America honored Rowley with a ''Perry Ellis Award for New Fashion Talent'' in 1994. In 2012, Rowley was given the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Legend of Fashion award, alongside her husband Bill Powers. In 2015, Rowley won the Designer of the Year award at the 37th Annual

American Apparel and Footwear Association The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) is a 501(c)(6) trade association. AAFA was formed in August 2000 through the merger of the ''American Apparel and Manufacturers Association'' (AAMA) and ''Footwear Industries of America'' (FIA). ...

American Image Awards.

Media

Rowley has appeared as a judge on the reality television programs '' 24 Hour Catwalk'', '' America's Next Top Model'', '' Project Runway'' and ''

Design Star ''HGTV Star'', named ''HGTV Design Star'' for the first seven seasons, is an American reality competition show that premiered on July 23, 2006, on the cable television network HGTV. Clive Pearse served as host for Seasons 1-4, then judge Vern Yip ...

'' and has been a guest on ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It ...

'', ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. ...

'', ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicago, Illinois. Produced ...

'', ''Gossip Girl, Celebrity Jeopardy,'' and the ''

Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production ...

'', among other programs. The TV series ''Return to Amish'' on the TLC

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematic ...

follows ex-

Amish The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churc ...

Kate Stoltzfus as she

interns An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...

at Rowley's design company. She has written and co-written several books: * ''Slim: A Fantasy Memoir'' (Random House, 2007) * ''The Swell Dressed Party'' (with co-author Ilene Rosenzweig, Atria, 2005) * ''Swell Holiday'' (with Rosenzweig, Atria, 2003) * ''Home Swell Home'' (with Rosenzweig, Atria, 2002) *''Swell: A Girl's Guide to the Good Life'' (with Rosenzweig, Time Warner, 1999)

Personal life

Rowley's first husband was photographer Tom Sullivan, who died of cancer at the age of 32 in 1994. Rowley married Brooklyn sculptor William Keenan Jr., with whom she had a daughter, Kit Keenan (born 1999). Kit released her own line of clothing in 2018, titled KIT. In 2019, Cynthia and Kit created a podcast together called Ageless. In 2021, Kit was a contestant on The Bachelor, where she alluded to having a well-known mother After Rowley and Keenan Jr. divorced, she married William "Bill" Powers, an art dealer, writer, and owner of the Half Gallery in Manhattan's

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the we ...

, on September 17, 2005, at the home of photographer Peter Beard.

References

External links

Official website
*
British Vogue "Vespa Lady"Bio and photo of Cynthia Rowley — Crain's New York Business 40 under 40 — 1997HGTV Design Star official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowley, Cynthia Living people American fashion designers American women fashion designers Participants in American reality television series School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni People from Barrington, Illinois 1958 births 21st-century American women