Telling twins apart can be a challenge, as any parent of twins will probably tell you with a sigh. So often, parents resort to the same strategy students use to find a section in their notes at a glance — color-coding.
As the babies grow up and develop their own personalities and style, the complementary colors usually fade from their wardrobes. But twins Ali and Josie Jones found their pink and green color code never left, and they’re keeping the colors bright as ever by bringing a bit of the rainbow to screens across the world.
Instagram famous
Two twins became well known around campus, not just for their color-coded attire but for their social media feeds. For Ali and Josie, their lives changed with social media. Ali has over 28,000 followers on Instagram and Josie has almost 1,000.
Ali said the motivation to create her page was providing a place for inspiring others to embrace who they are.
“I’d spend five hours a day on my couch just networking for hours and hours — just on Instagram meeting people, making friends, making connections — and then with that, it just built up this following,” Ali said.
Now, three years later, Ali has grown her profile exponentially and has created a place where she feels she finally belongs.
“It’s really cool to just finally feel like I belong somewhere even if it is online,” Ali said.
Ali and Josie said they both try to encourage others on their platforms to embrace themselves and be transparent.
They said they want people to feel accepted for their love of Japan, and to alter the stereotypes that exist about being interested in Japan and anime.
“Liking Japanese culture as a western person is difficult because you have two different spectrums of it, for me at least,” Ali said. “With how I present myself and do my platform, I do my best to make things very positive and free and open, so people feel secure in liking that.”
Ali said that although she’s now comfortable embracing her interests, she still feels she stands out.
“It’s strange being fascinating, but it’s also sad seeing how people are hiding themselves,” Ali said.
Josie said she uses her music and platform to show others you can be who you want — do what you want, wherever you want.
“Too many people are too afraid to be themselves and unfortunately life’s too short not to,” Josie said.
Through their profiles, Ali and Josie said they have not only created a life for themselves in Moscow, but it has opened up opportunities.
Ali said her platform provided her with her first trip to Japan, modeling opportunities in Harajuku and in Tokyo Fashion Magazine, a collaboration with Japanese fashion brand ACDC Rag as a designer and she’s acted in 13 Japanese TV shows.
Her sister, Josie, said her own platform allowed her to go to Switzerland, where she performed opera, and to Japan to network. Josie said she also modeled for Tokyo Fashion Magazine, and has appeared on four TV shows.
“When you’ve lost everything, you have everything to gain,” Josie said. “Even when one feels at the lowest point, it’s always possible to make something for yourself. Even if it’s on your apartment couch.”
Where it all began
The twins haven’t always been known for their bright pink and green hair or the clothes in their closet on social media.
This fascination with color began at birth for this pair. According to Ali, she was designated the color pink, whereas Josie got the color green. Ali said they’ve always had a fascination with their color, but this isn’t where their story began.
Both sisters grew up in Kenai, Alaska, a place that felt very isolating.
Ali said while growing up in Kenai, liking Japan and anime made them stand out. The isolation made them afraid to open up about their interests.
This fear followed them throughout middle school and high school. Ali said she felt pressure to find her place and fit in, this stemmed from bullying that followed her through school.
This fear of fitting in followed Ali and Josie as they made the next step in their life — college.
After arriving at the University of Idaho, they decided to join a sorority, something that seemed like a good way to find their path in college.
However, Ali and Josie said their ability to stay in sorority life was short-lived, due to financial complications. This resulted in them having to figure out a new path.
“I loved everything about the Greek life, and when I lost that, I was like, ‘Well, now I have myself and I need to celebrate it’,” Ali said. “So, I finally did.”
Josie said she endured a lot of the same internal struggles as Ali. After bullying in high school, the first few years of college required her to figure out where she belonged.
“Because we went from having this support system to literally nothing, I was just tired of trying to be somebody that I wasn’t,” Ali said. “I was really focused on fitting in and feeling comfortable and being digestible, but I just didn’t feel like myself fully.”
This search for self pushed Ali to make a decision — to embrace her love of Japan, anime and pink.
Josie on the other hand, said she was hesitant to ‘go green’ because of her profession as an opera singer. She started to train in opera her first year of high school. She always knew she wanted to do music and singing as a profession.
In 2018, after training in Switzerland and living in Tokyo, she made connections to perform. Since her tour in March 2019, she said she got the push she needed to embrace her love of green to create her own platform when the sisters decided to travel to Tokyo.
“I had already started doing shave designs on my back (of her head) so I was like ‘You know what? I want to do something fun’,” Josie said. “Dyeing my hair green made it even better in Japan.”
Story by Stevie Carr
Photos by Dani Moore
Design by Taylor Lund
Video by Mason Handy
Fan
Where are her socials ?? Instagram ?