Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Cynthia Rowley is an American fashion designer. The fashion label she created in the early 1980s bears her name. A native of Barrington, Illinois, she is one of three children born to Ed Rowley, a former science teacher, and his wife, Clementine. She graduated from Barrington High School in Barrington, Illinois and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Known for what The New York Times has called "flirty, vibrantly colored dresses and tops in wispy materials" that have "a whiff of the carefree, simple spirit" of Claire McCardell, Rowley launched her business in 1981 or 1983with $3,000 in seed money from one of her grandmothers. "Several months later, she held a fashion show in her apartment, inviting every important fashion editor in New York, as well as Andy Warhol and a smattering of movie stars -- none of whom she knew and none of whom attended."