We’re accustomed to seeing the Olsens skulking around town with their arms over their wee faces and a battalion of bodyguards preventing any errant air from being breathed in their direction. So it was a shock Saturday night at Rock & Republic to see one of the twins actually allowing herself to spend a full fifteen minutes in view of the masses — and looking happy, to boot. The Olsen in question laughed and smiled at the people around her, boasted shockingly bouncy hair, and did not appear to have arisen recently from the depths of a Starbucks Dumpster. “That has to be Ashley,” the girls behind us decided. “She looks so clean.” Well, hang on to your shower gel, ladies, because the well-groomed and jolly Olsen in attendance was in fact Mary-Kate. And if her mood is any indication, girlfriend has been getting laid. Or at least that’s our pet theory.
M-K wasn’t the only celeb to spur some mistaken-identity high jinks. In addition to our third sighting of Jessica Szohr — with whom Mary-Kate had a grand old time — Gossip Girl finally coughed up a few more of its own, in the forms of Matthew Settle, glorified extra Nicole Fiscella, and tousled dreamboat Chace Crawford, whose arrival prompted a girl in our row to squeal, “OH MY GOD! He was SO GOOD in High School Musical!” Sure, it’s easy to confuse two blue-eyed, delicately coifed teen-mag demigods, but there is one key difference … actually, never mind. We can’t think of one.
Crawford mostly observed the preshow quietly through his carefully sultry bangs — until Matthew Settle whipped out his cell phone, scrolled through to something, and passed it down the row. “SHUT. UP,” Crawford mouthed animatedly, snapping awake and gawking at whatever precious comedic cargo Settle had found. He handed it off to Szohr, who in turn flashed it at Mary-Kate, which elicited a huge guffaw. Seriously, what was this mysterious joke? A photo? A video? An unsolicited text message from Joan Collins? Share it with the rest of the class, guys, because we’re dying to know — and whatever it was, we are pretty sure Tiny Olsen hasn’t enjoyed herself that much since her day job involved being bounced on John Stamos’s knee.
Also seated in Celebrity Row (and mostly keeping to himself) were John Legend and his very boobalicious girlfriend, Lipstick Jungle man candy Robert Buckley, and Izabella Miko, who clearly regretted having brought a date when she saw she was seated right next to Buckley. Well, we might be projecting there. But all in all, it was a very satisfying exercise in celebrity ogling. For us, anyway: One of the girls behind us leaned over to her friend and whined, “Why aren’t Blair and Serena here?” Honey, we don’t know. Perhaps they’re home torturing Chuck. Maybe that’s what Matthew Settle had on his cell phone.
View a slideshow of the Rock & Republic collection.
View backstage and front row photos of Mary-Kate Olsen, Chace Crawford and more at Rock & Republic.
Watch a video of the Rock & Republic show.
