So this is why we dress the same as our friends

Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid say twinning is winning, but how does it happen?

Don’t you just hate it when your friend turns up in exactly the same outfit as you? How, out of all the clothes that each of you has stuffed into your wardrobe, did you both end up choosing the exact same top, jeans and choker combo for your lols lunch together?

Case in point, Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner, who were spotted twinning (and winning, as they both look amazing) in New York yesterday in matching off-duty outfits. Poor Hailey Baldwin obviously didn’t get the memo.

So did they call in advance to coordinate? Or is it purely coincidence that they both had the urge to put on their favourite light denim trousers, slinky black tops, vintage sunnies and ribbon chokers yesterday?

Of course, our BFFs share a lot of the same tastes in music, style, food etc as ourselves - it’s why they’re our friends, isn’t it? And with imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, it’s no wonder that when we compliment each other’s outfits, the image of our mate’s great look subconsciously weaves its way into our own brain, influencing our own next haul from Topshop.

But is there a more scientific reason behind the behaviour? Were we programmed in some way to mirror our pal’s hot style? Well most of the studies out there focus on the copycat behaviours we loved as teenagers. ‘What she was attempting to do was to use her friend as a means to bolster her own ego,’ psychoanalyst Brenda Berger writes in Psychology Today of a study she conducted on teenage girls who dressed the same. ‘By latching on to the same jeans, she was really seeking mirroring and external confirmation and supplies from her friend as a way to pump herself up, so she could feel more confident and less vulnerable.’

So our ‘personal’ style stems back to our childhoods, and to how confident we were in our sartorial choices when we were 13? ‘Although we like to think of ourselves as very sophisticated, we're still working at cave men level whereby to be in a group is far safer than to be isolated,’ psychologist Emily Lovegrove tells The Telegraph. ‘So people wear things that fit in with their group by and large.’

Upon further examination of the items that our supermodel case study, Gigi and Kendall, have twinned in – chokers, bomber jackets and body-con - it’s interesting to spot that these are all trendy items. Each girl has done what all of us do, and worked an on-trend item into their own 'personal' look, except that, because they’re BFFs, the 'personal' parts of their style are very, very similar.

When filtering through their wardrobes, getting dressed before their meet-up, each girl will have concluded that based on the weather, the occasion, a dash of her own personal style and a touch of a new season trend, the best outfit they had for the occasion was this. Seems logical really, doesn't it? And let's face it, if they are purposefully doing a fashion double act, Gigi and Kendall make a pretty strong pair.

But how to avoid the clash, if twinning really isn't your style? Your new rule is as follows; if your BFF’s got it, don’t buy it. Chances are everyone else’s bestie will have already bought it too.