Hi guys! Charlotte and Sophie Bickley here — in our new column for The Daily we respond our followers on Instagram, who send us questions and ask anything they want. We are excited about this round of submission! Ready, set, LET’S DO THIS!
@ireallyloveisabel: How do you deal with the dynamic of being sisters who are so different?
We won’t lie, working together as sisters definitely has its ups and downs and was quite hard to get used to at first. It’s been a learning process over the past three (four in April) years that we have been doing our blog full-time. Especially because we are so different, not just in our styles but in our personalities, hobbies, etc. It is definitely easier to be professionally inappropriate with your own sister than it is with someone you aren’t related to, so we’ve had to work on that and remember that we have to treat each other like actual coworkers.
Sometimes we get into intense fights but we can usually get over these within hours. Luckily, we have our amazing assistant, Kenny, who can be a buffer for some of these arguments and bring us back to reality. Fighting isn’t worth it and will not solve any problems. We knew working together as sisters who are so different wouldn’t be easy, but we also see the beauty in our differences and have learned to balance our personalities. It has always been a dream of ours to work together, even if that means the occasional sisterly fight. We are so proud of what we have built, we love what we do, and at the end of the day, we love each other to death and would have it no other way!
What are your favorite trends entering into 2020?
Some of our absolute favorites entering into 2020 are loafers. Not necessarily slides/mules, but loafers with backs and heels — blocked heels in particular. Going off that, any shoe with a low block or unique heel, we love. We love the prints that are dominating 2020 apparel, such as snakeskin, cow, zebra, and other animal prints, as well as wallpaper prints. Additionally, we are loving the puffy sleeve trend on shirts and dresses, anything with feathers, and the continued trend of pant suits. Finally, we are still very into anything neon! All of these favorite style trends go for the both of us.
(Courtesy)
@ellavator6: What are your favorite parts of being influencers?
Sophie: Being able to use our platform for good has been so rewarding and I am so grateful for this. If it weren’t for our loyal and engaging followers, we wouldn’t be where we are today. Which plays a huge role in the fact that my favorite part of being an influencer is the relationship we have created with them — helping and inspiring them with style, travel, dating, mental health, hot restaurants, home décor, making friends, dealing with loss, and so many more topics. Without them, we would not have grown our platform to where it exists today.
Many have followed us since we started and have actively watched their role in the our growth, remaining loyal the entire time and always giving us positive encouragement. This means the world to us and has also taught us that authenticity is truly the key to being a successful influencer. I make it a point to remind followers that just because we are influencers, it doesn’t mean our lives are perfect. Instagram has the tendency to glorify things and make it look like our life is all roses or all glitz and glam. But it’s not. We are normal people just like everyone else. We have good and bad days just like everyone else. I find it so important to explain this misconception to our followers, to be real with them and allow them to relate to us.
Charlotte: My favorite part is being able to share my life journey with you guys! I’ve always loved fashion and thought of myself as having a “trendy” eye. Being able to share my style with all of you is super fun. Hearing your feedback, whether it be negative or positive, about my looks is always insightful and makes my style evolve even more. Also, being able to share my wacky life with my sister, mom, dad, friends, and of course my Bentley is super rewarding. We would be nothing without our following, so thank you!
@kitkeenan: Talk to me about the Instagram algorithm getting rid of likes? How do you feel about that?
Sophie: Getting rid of likes is something that I am totally on board with. And it’s something I believe could actually be a really good thing, causing more good than harm for Instagram users as a whole. Engagement with followers and developing good relationships with brands are two of the most important parts of being a successful influencer, not how many likes you get. High engagement (what brands are usually looking for in a partnership) does not always translate to the amount of likes one gets.
Taking away likes could lower the competition that people feel over Instagram, not just for influencers, but also the average user. It would probably make Instagram a more creative platform, because people will post what they feel like posting, without the concern of how many likes their post may get. Instagram, unfortunately, has caused many people to compare themselves to others, or feel bad about themselves if they don’t get “a lot” of likes or don’t have a lot of followers. Without likes, this might not be the case anymore. Influencers that already get a lot of likes should have no problem maintaining their engagement with followers and relationship with brands without visible likes.
(Courtesy)
Charlotte: Honestly I do not have a problem with likes being removed. Although it has yet to happen to me, likes are something that don’t affect our work. We have a super engaged following on @yin2myyang and on my personal account, @chbickley. And that’s all that matters. The algorithm has really changed and has made us get less likes, but our content has stayed the same over the years. We stay true to ourselves and hope you guys still resonate with our content!
@kat_lehner: How do you edit your Insta pics/get inspiration for poses and outfits?
Sophie: Charlotte does all the editing for @yin2myyang. She’s always loved photography and editing pictures. For us it’s a super simple process. Once we shoot our content, we both have to agree on a photo we want to use, which is sometimes difficult if we don’t agree. But once that’s done we can go ahead and edit. We use super blogger @tezza‘s editing app called Tezza App. We used VSCO for a while, which is also great. But when we discovered Tezza App we fell in love with the presets and how you can create a vintage feel in modern photos.
For poses, after three and a half years, we have learned what works for us. Charlotte is usually on the left side and I’m on the right (yes we have our favorite sides). We love when a shot is taken from a downward angle to make us look super tall and add a different dynamic to the post. For content, we usually wear our daily outfits. We never plan our looks together. We always just show up and it works out. That being said, we check out other influencers’ photos for inspiration, while still trying to stay authentic to our own brand — not mimicking what other are doing. Finally, we make sure to stay up to date with current trends and keep that in mind when shooting content to give our followers the hottest inspo!
Where do you find inspiration for picking out your outfits every morning?
We are both pretty spontaneous and “in the moment” about what we choose. We pick looks based on what we are feeling that day, but also around our daily agenda, which is never the same. For example, if we have a photoshoot or a day of shooting content, we will usually choose outfits that align with trends. If we have a meeting or an important commitment, we usually will dress up a bit more. That’s not to say we don’t dress up on days we don’t have meetings. While this isn’t intentional, we never discuss the outfits that the other is wearing. Luckily, they always seem to come together and complement each other in some way. Ultimately, we choose outfits that make us feel confident and stylish.
Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date on all the latest fashion news and juicy industry gossip.
