Remember when you were little and all you wanted to do is dress like your older sister/categorically* not* dress like your little sister? Your mum pretty much ignored you and matched you up as much as she liked. Luckily your familial scars have faded; that all happened a long time ago. But what about if you were still doing it... in your twenties. Oh - and building a lucrative and global fashion career off the back of it.
Meet Jess and Stef Dadon, the super-colourful, mega-kitsch Aussie sisters behind hugely popular fashion blog, How Two Live. Their blog started two years ago, when (now) 26-year-old Stef went to live in Paris and wanted to keep in touch with 21-year-old Jess. When Stef returned from Paris, they realised how incredibly successful the blog's premise was. To date, they're the only top bloggers who operate as extensions of one another.
Right down to their long dark tangly hair, ten-inch sci-fi flatforms, deep tans and fruity nail art, the girls are never not actively complimenting one another and having tons of fun, all the while - no mean feat. The breakout stars of (swiftly growing) nascent Sydney Fashion Week, we rung up the sisters (who are based between Melbourne and Sydney, together of course - 'our wardrobe is all in the same place!') to talk about clothes sharing and having no method to their madness.
**The Debrief: Hi girls! So you set up How To Live when Stef moved to Paris, right? **
**Jess Dadon: **Yup, as a daily diary to each other, when Stef was moving to Paris. We thought it would be a fun way to keep in touch and share our outfits with each other.
Stef Dadon: We really didn't know much about the blogging industry when we started and had no idea that we were about to become a part of this big new world. It was never our intention to turn How Two Live into a full-time thing, so it's come as a surprise to us. A great surprise, though!
**DB: Have you always had a colourful, fun aesthetic? **
S: Yes, we've always been completely drawn to colour. Dressing in colour just makes everything more fun, and tends to put a smile on the faces around you.
J: People often think that we take ourselves so seriously in the way we dress, but it's actually the opposite. Fashion doesn't need to be so serious, and colour is a big part of making it more exciting.
**DB: Because of your painstakingly coordination? It's so impressive to achieve that day in day out, though. Is it much of an effort? **
J: We actually find it a lot easier to match our outfits than to dress differently, as we're coming up with just one concept and then creating two outfits around it. We coordinate in all types of ways: it can be the same designer, or the same print/colour or even just a similar material. If we're not feeling like wearing the same thing then we'll often tie the outfits in with similar sunglasses or shoes.
DB: Do you argue about who wears what? We're pretty sure we'd end up in a heap on the floor, surrounded by clothes, bawling at our sister.
S: We share absolutely everything! We're really not fussed about who wears what, so we usually just choose at random, like by playing paper scissors rock or something. If one of us is wearing an outfit the other likes then we'll just swap them a few days later. We rarely argue and pretty much agree on everything, which can get kind of annoying for our boyfriends!
J: It might sound kind of strange that we do it all together, but we pretty much spend all our time with each other so it just ends up that way.
DB: Do you divide the workload? Who updates the blog/Instagram more?
**S: **Usually with posts, we write them together and we're together when we post them, so whoever's closer to the computer will physically do the updating.
J: We probably update our Instagram equally, there's no method to our madness. We're both logged into our account on our phones, so it's really just dependent on what we're doing at the time and who's free to post.
DB: So do you do everything together?
S: Not everything. Alongside the blog, I'm currently in the process of setting up a men's online store called Mannkind, whilst Jess is doing a lot of nail art.
DB: Are you both firm supporters of Aussie fashion? You seem very loyal tothe homegrown scene, which is nice as you've bought labels like Shakuhachi into the mainstream.
J: Yes, we absolutely love Aussie fashion. People here seem to have a real 'anything goes' attitude towards fashion which of course we love! The standouts for us are Shakuhachi, Alice McCall, Manning Cartell and Sass and Bide.
S: We really like wearing affordable brands, but we do like to mix in some high end labels. We go crazy for Missoni and Kenzo. Through How Two Live we've had the opportunity to be introduced to so many labels we've never heard of before. There are a huge amount of underground labels here that are kind of like an exclusive club, you need to be cool enough to have heard of them. We've been giving away a lot of their secrets though, because once we find something we love we get so excited to share them with our readers.
**DB: And what can we expect to see you lots of you both perfectly matching in, this summer? **
S: We just can't get enough of bomber jackets at the moment. And we're loving the whole art-inspired trend that brands like Chanel introduced for this season. Anything that involves lots of colour and we're in!
J: We know we're known for being all about colour, but we hope the 'all white everything' trend sticks around too.
DB: Do you wish more people had such a free approach to fashion?
S: People are often too concerned with what people might think of them if they dress a little differently, but there is nothing more liberating than dressing for yourself. Our ultimate style icon is Anna Dello Russo, as she dresses with little inhibitions, is never afraid to play with colour and obviously has the budget to go totally label crazy. And the Olsen twins seem to get put down a lot for what they wear, but we love how fearless and unpredictable their styles are.
J: We were recently shown Bip Ling's blog and we feel like her style is totally on the same wavelength as ours. And we've always loved Susie Bubble's eclectic taste. We're also extremely inspired by Walter Van Beirendonck. He is the perfect example of fashion meets art and his personal style is quirky and bold. We met him recently and we were both a little tongue tied!
DB: And what about the negativity. I noticed people sometimes troll you being skinny on Instagram, to which you never respond. How do you deal with that?
S: It's funny that you've noticed we never respond. We often read the comments and we're so tempted to rip into the person, but our brand is all about having fun and being carefree, so we feel like getting into arguments in cyber space is the total opposite of what How Two Live is all about.
J: You do learn to let everything bounce off you, because if we took it all to heart we'd go insane.
**DB: Sage advice. So what's next for How Two Live? Would you ever pursue projects alone, or are you like ying and yang? **
S: We've got a lot of exciting new projects coming up. It's looking like there's going to be a lot of travel and in addition to working with different labels and designers, we're also focusing on expanding our own label.
J: We do each have our own ideas and aspirations, but because the work we do through How Two Live is so broad, it kind of gives us the opportunity to explore our own passions under this one umbrella.
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Pictures: How Two Live
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.