On Connie: Michaela Buerger Flowers Everywhere Long Sleeve Top, $340, available at Shopbop; Milly Modern Mini Skirt, $245, available at Shopbop; model's own sunglasses, bags, and shoes. On Alexandra: Michaela Buerger Flowers Everywhere Long Sleeve Top, $340, available at Shopbop; Carven Skirt, $290, available at Shopbop; All Birds Women's Wool Runners, $95, available at All Birds; Marc Jacobs Snapshot Colorblock Small Camera Bag, $295, available at Marc Jacobs; Dior sunglasses (model's own).

Last September, the statement piece to beat at New York Fashion Week was definitely Veda's Best Friend moto jackets , spotted on Caroline Vreeland and Shea Marie of Peace Love Shea . Soon enough, we began seeing a new wave of matchy-matchy dressing — one that involved pairing up, but not mirroring your partner. The idea is to coordinate on one piece or an overall formula for an outfit, and have each person interpret their own aesthetic within those parameters.It sounds easy enough — but the challenge becomes straddling this line between cheekiness and the costume-y nature of overly planning your look. Luckily, fashion features director Connie Wang and senior fashion news editor Alexandra Ilyashov spend enough time together as it is, so this was a natural next step in their relationship. The result was only a tad bit creepy.Connie went into this challenge a seasoned matchy dresser. "I'm no stranger to dressing alike (see: here ), so matching with Alex was no big deal," she explains. "There's definitely a performative aspect to matching a friend in a way that actually feels very Hadid- and Jenner-approved — wherever Alex and I would go, people wouldn't only look and stare, but they'd do it with the kind of expectation that we were about to put on a show. The fact that we didn't have anything prepared was kind of a letdown." However, street style is a form of performance, she says — so it wasn't too far off: "It definitely makes sense that people would want to match a bestie. But for regular occasions, the pressure for showtime was too much."Alexandra, for her part, was a little more hesitant. "Confession: I used to loathe having matchy outfits with my sister for family photos and/or as Hanukkah gifts," she admits. Since then, though, she's had a change of heart — and even kind of enjoyed twinning as an adult. "I got a kick out of walking around crowded, tourist-clogged City Hall Park, coordinated with Connie," she reflects. "Our chaste, high-necked, long-sleeved white shirts felt very 'just escaped the Victorian sanatorium in our (very chic) straightjackets.'" She concurs with Connie on the performative aspect of it all. "There was definite anticipation about what we were there to do, exactly, besides eat ice cream," she explains. "Some folks even whipped out their phones to snap a pic while the photographer was shooting — hey, it's the closest I've ever come to feeling like a B-list celebrity overseas."