The Anti-Influencers

Why Do We All Love The Olsen Twins So Much?

Written by: Grace VanVranken
Editorial Direction by: Brooke Domer

There are a few things that tie millennial women together: a loyalty to NARS Orgasm Blush, the thrill of over paying for a boutique fitness class and an unexplainable love for the Olsen Twins. From their matching side-parts on the VHS cover of Billboard Dad, to running around the West Village as NYU students gripping Venti coffee cups and Balenciaga City Bags, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen have been our north star for all things cool since the clock struck 1996. 

Our infatuation with chainsmoking twins who refuse to indulge in any type of social media has always struck me as an unexpected guilty pleasure for a generation that grew up addicted to oversharing. We all fought with our moms about leaving the house with too much cleavage and posted cryptic AIM away messages alluding to whatever drama was going on in our lives via Death Cab For Cutie lyrics. Sure, this behavior could have been written off as ‘teenage antics’, but in hindsight was definitely a gateway drug to the world we live in today where every accomplishment from buying an eye cream to taking a vacation is almost required to be splashed across Instagram or it may as well not have happened. But here we are, full blown adults obsessed with two women we virtually know nothing about, other than one of them had bowls of cigarettes at her wedding and that together they design a fucking amazing handbag. I’m not sure what would shock me more: to see Mary Kate walking down Hudson Street in a Christopher Esber Dress or to come across a ‘Get Ready With Me’ from Ashley while scrolling TikTok.

Anyone with the slightest bit of life experience will tell you ‘never meet your heroes’, a lesson we’ve all probably had to learn the hard way. The beauty of the Olsen Twins is that they have never presented us with an opportunity to be let down. Do you have anyone else in your life on that pedestal? I certainly do not. In my head, Ashley uses La Prairie Caviar Luxe on her elbows and lives in a townhouse with crown molding and an Adrian Pearsall Sofa, while Mary Kate drinks whole milk lattes and burns through three XL Diptyque Feu de Bois candles per week. Is this accurate? We’ll never know! And as much as I would love to find out, I kind of hope we never do.