Why Is Everyone Twinning?

Matching your friends used to be a faux pas. But in an increasingly atomized world, it’s become a bonding mechanism.

- By Emily Sundberg

Scrolling through the Instagram account @starter packsofnyc feels like flipping through a pack of trading cards, except instead of stats, each archetype comes with outfits and drink orders. Resist all you want, but you’ll likely identify with one of the curated personalities on the feed. There I was in the binder, I realized: shearling-wearing, whole milk–drinking, Balthazardining, Lana Del Rey–listening, cozy-inclined woman.

But it’s not shade. The account isn’t mocking the circles that it spoofs. The comments don’t suggest offense so much as delighted acknowledgment by fellow “teammates.” Why, in an era that places so much emphasis on unfettered self-expression, do we find such contrarian joy in looking like others? “People are happy to feel seen and be part of a cultural conversation, even if it’s not an entirely flattering one,” says the account’s founder, Sasha Mutchnik. “And we’ve been programmed to define ourselves by what we wear and buy…. So while it may seem counterintuitive, in our hyper-individualized world, to want to admit a collection of six to eight items is ‘literally me,’ it’s a way of saying you’re a part of a group, and are, by extension, normal.”