Ashley Olsen Makes Rare Red Carpet Appearance Without Sister Mary-Kate at 2021 CFDA Awards

The Olsen sisters' fashion label The Row is nominated for American Accessories Designer of the Year

Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

Ashley Olsen is back at it on the red carpet!

In celebration of the 2021 CFDA Awards on Wednesday night in New York City, Ashley Olsen made a rare, solo red carpet appearance in honor of The Row's nomination for American Accessories Designer of the Year. Sister Mary-Kate opted out of attending the event alongside Ashley.

The designer showed off her fashion finesse dressed in a minimal black floor-length dress with a matching blazer and clutch plus a diamond cuff earring. Ashley wore her hair in her signature loose waves, lined her eyes with heavy black eyeliner and softly smiled as she posed on the red carpet.

Since establishing The Row in 2013, the Olsen sisters have been awarded the CFDA Award for Accessory Designer of the Year three times (2014, 2018, 2019). They also earned the CFDA Award for Womenswear Designer of the Year in 2012 and 2015. Back in 2009, they became the youngest designers to ever be inducted into the association.

This year, they are up against top contenders in the American Accessories Designer of the Year category: Aurora James for Brother Vellies, Gabriela Hearst, Stuart Vevers for Coach and Telfar Clemens for Telfar.

The notoriously private sisters have not walked a red carpet together since the 2019 CFDA Awards. Earlier this year, Mary-Kate, 35, opened up in a rare interview about why she and her sister have avoided the public eye in recent years.

"We were raised to be discreet people," Mary-Kate said, when asked about The Row's modest style.

"I think that potentially that's just our aesthetic, our design preference," Ashley added. "But that doesn't mean that we don't also appreciate something truly ornate or maximal. Sometimes a collection even starts quite like that, and then gets pared down. It doesn't always start from that simplistic place."