In the late 1960s, Rose left the studio to open her own design business and continued to provide attire for the famed and the wealthy. She also wrote a fashion column.
She wrote two books: her autobiography Just Make Them Beautiful in 1976 and The Glamorous World of Helen Rose. In the 1970s, Rose also staged a traveling fashion show featuring some of her MGM-designed costumes that was called "The Helen Rose Show".