September 21st, 2018

How do you develop a personal style if you have a twin? How important is it for twins to wear the same clothes? I spoke with three pairs of twins to find out about their life, their style, and how they choose their clothes.

“For those who don’t have a twin, it’s probably weird to have someone with you all the time. For us it’s normality, we grew up like that.”

Laura and Lavinia were born in Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Romania, in the summer of ‘97, with ten minutes between them. In some of the family stories, their parents hold that their births were actually ten minutes apart. “I like to say that I’m seven minutes older than Lavinia”, Laura says.

They have always been accustomed to staying together all the time, sleeping in the same room, dressing the same, unlike other kids who develop their personality independently of someone else.

Their clothes through time

In the early years of kindergarten, their father bought them only boys’ clothes – T-shirts, pants and black patent leather shoes. Their hair was cut short and with bangs. Lavinia and Laura tried to negotiate their clothing choices, but they didn’t do it firmly enough. “It was kinda weird  to tell our father that we no longer want boys’ clothes because he was excited to buy them. We only complained to our mother. “

When school started, their grandmother began to make custom tailored dresses for them. She was a seamstress. “Her name was Elisabeta, and I wanted to tattoo that name on my body,” says Lavinia. “Back then we used to spend most of our time with her. She lived near our school. We remember the inner courtyard, where she kept her cat. Her stories about her childhood, the four brothers, the war, working for the garment factory, and how she bought fabrics for dresses with the money from her first salary. She gave us many beauty tips, but we were stubborn at that time. She was planning to come with us to college, in Bucharest, so she could cook for us. Unfortunately, we lost her in 2014. “

When they were 12-13 years old, Laura and Lavinia started to have different styles. Laura let her hair grow long and became obsessed with hair accessories. Lavinia was an Avril Lavigne fan and she wanted to adopt the punk style.

In high school, Lavinia developed her aesthetics as inspired by Kurt Cobain and Tokio Hotel, and Laura discovered weird hairstyles on the Internet and bought boots and clothes inspired by the preppy aesthetic.  

Now, Lavinia and Laura  live and go to college in Bucharest, Romania. Laura says they now focus on what sets them apart. “Lavinia has a lot of shirts, I have a lot of t-shirts. Laura has many boots and I have many shoes. We exchange things when we need them.”

Their most intense shopping time is during fall, because they love to buy sweaters. They buy online and when it’s sales season. Laura says she has a passive passion for clothes. She is on Pinterest a lot, she is always looking for designers and collections, her favorite designer is Alexander McQueen and so on. Lavinia is not passionate about clothes, she wears comfortable, baggy items. She laughs when she says that sometimes she’s not allowed to leave the house because Laura thinks the is way off with her outfit, so she has to redo it. They don’t get attached to their clothes and never keep them for more than a year or two in the house. Donating them is a family ritual – giving clothes away to church or to families in need.

“We constantly change our style  and discover our personalities. We love that we can now express ourselves more than we did during childhood. And it’s good to experience things at this age. When we’re in our 30s I imagine we’ll be stylish, like Angelina Jolie. Lady like allure”, Laura says, looking at Lavinia.

Photo credit: Simona Petrica