Cynthia Rowley

Rowley is a native of Barrington, Illinois a northwestern suburb of Chicago.{{Cite web|title=Barrington Chic|url=https://jwcdaily.com/countrymag/2016/10/11/barrington-chic/|access-date=2021-01-06|website=Country Magazine|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title = Cynthia Rowley enters the high-tech world of fashion|url = http://national.suntimes.com/national-entertainment/7/72/1636626/cynthia-rowley-fashion|website = Sun-Times National|access-date = 2015-11-29|language = en-US|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151208071910/http://national.suntimes.com/national-entertainment/7/72/1636626/cynthia-rowley-fashion|archive-date = December 8, 2015|url-status = dead}} She is one of three children born to Ed Rowley, a former science teacher, and his wife, Clementine, who was a painter.{{Cite news|title = Business People; Mom, Dad, Size 14 Furs: Who Says Fashion Is Elitist?|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/08/business/business-people-mom-dad-size-14-furs-who-says-fashion-is-elitist.html|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 2004-02-08|access-date = 2015-11-29|issn = 0362-4331|first = Francine|last = Parnes}}{{Cite news|title = Cynthia Rowley and Bill Powers Are Everywhere at Once|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/fashion/cynthia-rowley-and-bill-powers-are-everywhere-at-once.html|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 2012-03-16|access-date = 2015-11-29|issn = 0362-4331|first = Bob|last = Morris}} Rowley made her first dress at age seven. Her grandparents included the designer of the Pabst Blue Ribbon logo and a painter.{{Cite web|title = Remarkable Woman: Cynthia Rowley|url = https://www.chicagotribune.com/2012/05/04/remarkable-woman-cynthia-rowley/|website = tribunedigital-chicagotribune| date=May 4, 2012 |access-date = 2015-11-29}} She graduated from Barrington High School and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1988.{{Cite web|title=Cynthia Rowley (BFA 1981) Collaborates her Design Work with Lifeway Foods|url=https://www.saic.edu/news/cynthia-rowley-bfa-1981-collaborates-her-design-work-lifeway-foods|access-date=2021-01-06|website=School of the Art Institute of Chicago|language=en}}{{Cite web|title = How to have a 'Swell' time for $75|url = https://www.chicagotribune.com/2003/06/15/how-to-have-a-swell-time-for-75/|website = tribunedigital-chicagotribune| date=15 June 2003 |access-date = 2015-11-29}}{{Cite web|title = SAIC — News — School of the Art Institute of Chicago|url = http://www.saic.edu/news/saic-alum-cynthia-rowley-featured-in-surface-magazine.html|website = www.saic.edu|access-date = 2015-11-29}} 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 Chicago Tribune, Rowley said that Marshall Field's had bought her first collection while she was still a student at SAIC.

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.{{Cite news|title = PUBLIC LIVES; A Patron of the Arts, as Seen in a Sponge|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/14/nyregion/public-lives-a-patron-of-the-arts-as-seen-in-a-sponge.html|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 2003-08-14|access-date = 2015-11-29|issn = 0362-4331|first = Robin|last = Finn}}

Since Rowley launched her first capsule collection in 1988, has grown to include women's wear, handbags, glasses, color cosmetics, fragrance, wetsuits and swimwear, home furnishings,{{Cite web|title = Hooker Furniture to launch line with fashion brand Cynthia Rowley {{!}} Furniture Today|url = http://www.furnituretoday.com/article/516797-hooker-furniture-launch-line-fashion-brand-cynthia-rowley|website = www.furnituretoday.com| date=February 19, 2015 |access-date = 2015-11-29}}{{Cite news|title = Fashion designer Cynthia Rowley sets her sights on furniture|url = http://www.thespec.com/living-story/6131716-fashion-designer-cynthia-rowley-sets-her-sights-on-furniture/|newspaper = The Hamilton Spectator|date = 2015-11-23|access-date = 2015-11-29}} bedding products,{{Cite web|url = http://beddingchecker.com|title = An introduction to Cynthia Rowley bedding products|date = 2014-08-21|access-date = 2016-01-11}} and office accessories.{{Cite web|title = Cynthia Rowley's Chic Office Line for Staples {{!}} Architectural Digest|url = http://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/cynthia-rowley-desk-accessories-staples-article|website = Architectural Digest|access-date = 2015-11-29|last = Keller|first = Hadley|date = March 31, 2015}}

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.{{Cite web|title = With Menswear, Cynthia Rowley Shares Bill Powers's Secrets|url = http://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/bill-powers-cynthia-rowley/|website = Interview Magazine| date=December 8, 2011 |access-date = 2015-11-29}}

Rowley's fashions are presented bi-annually at New York Fashion Week. Signature Cynthia Rowley stores are in New York City, Montauk,Houston, Greenwich, CT, and Newport Beach as well as at the company's web store.{{Cite web|title = Cynthia Rowley — Where To Buy|url = http://www.cynthiarowley.com/where-to-buy|website = www.cynthiarowley.com|access-date = 2015-11-29}}

Rowley's designs were described by The New York Times as "flirty, vibrantly colored dresses and tops in wispy materials"{{Cite news|title = Fashion Designer Sticks to a Solo Course|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/13/business/fashion-designer-sticks-to-a-solo-course.html|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 2003-02-13|access-date = 2015-11-29|issn = 0362-4331|first = Tracie|last = Rozhon}} that have "a whiff of the carefree, simple spirit" of Claire McCardell.{{Cite news|title = Celebrating Claire McCardell|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/17/style/celebrating-claire-mccardell.html|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 1998-11-17|access-date = 2015-11-29|issn = 0362-4331|first = Constance C. R.|last = White}}

The Council of Fashion Designers of America honored Rowley with a Perry Ellis Award for New Fashion Talent in 1994.{{Cite news|title = CHRONICLE|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/18/style/chronicle-864757.html|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 1994-11-18|access-date = 2015-11-29|issn = 0362-4331|first = Nadine|last = Brozan}}Michelle Ingrassia, "Fashion: Dress for Success—Cynthia Rowley Moves To The Front Of The Pack", Newsweek, November 13, 1995 In 2012, Rowley was given the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Legend of Fashion award.{{Cite web |date=March 19, 2012 |title=SAIC to Honor Alumnus Cynthia Rowley |url=http://www.nbcchicago.com/the-scene/fashion/SAIC-to-Honor-Alumnus-Cynthia-Rowley-143332356.html |access-date=2015-11-29 |website=NBC Chicago}} In 2015, Rowley won the Designer of the Year award at the 37th Annual American Apparel and Footwear Association American Image Awards.{{Cite news|title = AAFA American Image Awards Draws Star-Studded Crowd|url = https://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/30/ny-aafa-idUSnBw306678a+100+BSW20150430|newspaper = Reuters|date = 2015-04-30|access-date = 2015-11-29}}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} | In 2023, Rowley received an honorary doctorate from the Art Institute of Chicago.

Rowley has appeared as a judge on the reality television programs 24 Hour Catwalk, America's Next Top Model, Project Runway and Design Star and has been a guest on The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Gossip Girl, Celebrity Jeopardy, and the Late Show with David Letterman, among other programs. The TV series Return to Amish on the TLC network follows ex-Amish Kate Stoltzfus as she interns 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)

Rowley's first husband was photographer Tom Sullivan, who died of cancer at the age of 32 in 1994.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1995-05-28-9505280033-story.html |title=Next Stop, Chicago |last=Wiltz |first=Teresa |date=May 28, 1995 |website=Chicago Tribune}} 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.elle.com/fashion/a21994600/kit-keenan-clothing-line-cynthia-rowley/|title=Cynthia Rowley's Daughter is Getting into the Clothing Game|last=Krentcil|first=Faran|date=2018-06-30|website=ELLE|language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-11}} In 2021, Kit was a contestant on The Bachelor,{{Cite web|date=2021-01-06|title=The Bachelor contestant Kit Keenan's mom is a famous fashion designer|url=https://acceptthisrose.com/2021/01/06/the-bachelor-contestant-kit-keenans-mom-is-a-famous-fashion-designer/|access-date=2021-06-22|website=Accept This Rose|language=en-US}} where she alluded to having a well-known mother{{Cite web|first=Christina|last=Montford|date=2021-02-02|title='The Bachelor': Who Is Kit Keenan's Famous Mom?|url=https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/the-bachelor-who-is-kit-keenans-famous-mom.html/|access-date=2021-06-22|website=Showbiz Cheat Sheet|language=en-US}} 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, on September 17, 2005, at the home of photographer Peter Beard.{{Cite web|title = FASHION BITES|url = http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2005/09/16/fashion-bites|website = Vogue UK|access-date = 2015-11-29}}

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• [http://www.cynthiarowley.com/ Official website]
• {{fashiondesigner|id=cynthia-rowley}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930012955/http://www.vogue.co.uk/vogue_daily/story/story.asp?stid=45239 British Vogue "Vespa Lady"]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20101118073855/http://mycrains.crainsnewyork.com/40under40/profiles/1997/1084 Bio and photo of Cynthia Rowley — Crain's New York Business 40 under 40 — 1997]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060824041433/http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dc_design_star_2006 HGTV Design Star official website]

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Category:Living people

Category:American fashion designers

Category:American women fashion designers

Category:Participants in American reality television series

Category:School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni

Category:People from Barrington, Illinois

Category:1958 births

Category:21st-century American women