“Are you Laufey?”
A fan approached a desk at an East Village cafe, hoping for a photograph with Laufey (pronounced LAY-vay), the musician beloved by Gen Z listeners for her nostalgic mix of pop and jazz.
The lady eating there had the singer’s midsection, her mannerisms, and her retro-femme fashion of gown. She was not Laufey, however her equivalent twin, Junia.
The fan shortly recovered: “Do you steal all her sneakers?”
That similarity is useful, Junia (pronounced YOO-nia) defined final month over eggs and kimchi on a thick slice of sourdough. She will be able to check digital camera angles whereas her sister hydrates earlier than a efficiency, or fill in for her for fittings in a pinch. They usually steal one another’s sneakers.
“She simply received new Chanel flats — after all I used to be going to steal them,” Junia informed the fan.
However Junia, 25, whose full title is Junia Lin Jonsdottir, is extra than simply her well-known sister’s physique double. She works as Laufey’s inventive director, shaping the romantic visible fashion that the singer’s followers name “Laufeycore.” She has almost two million followers on TikTok who devour her style suggestions and her occasional journeys to Iceland, the place the sisters grew up.
She’s additionally a younger lady attempting to determine her personal inventive id whereas her twin sister is within the midst of an expert breakthrough. Up to now this 12 months, Laufey has received her first Grammy, attended her first Met Gala and bought out Radio Metropolis twice.
Geminis typically get questions on envy and comparability, however even by these requirements, Junia has been answering plenty of them these days. “I don’t really feel jealous anymore,” she mentioned. “I believe I did final 12 months once I had simply graduated from faculty and I felt extra misplaced. Like, I used to be job hopping, and she or he was constructing her profession. However a lot has modified in only a 12 months that I don’t have these emotions anymore.”
Junia, who lives in London, joined her sister’s group full-time in January and is working to construct the aesthetic aspect of Laufey’s music empire. She plans album covers, music movies and efficiency seems, typically over video calls with Laufey, who lives in Los Angeles, and the remainder of his group.
It reminds Junia of the best way the 2 improvised as kids. “Like, we performed with dolls collectively, and typically it appears like we’re nonetheless doing that,” she mentioned.
Ballet sneakers in Iceland
The sisters grew up in Washington, D.C., and their father’s native Iceland, in a house crammed with music by their mom, a Chinese language classical violinist. Junia mentioned she at all times felt like an outsider in Reykjavik, typically insisting on sporting a skirt and ballet flats to high school, regardless that everybody else wore rain boots.
At age 7, Junia determined she needed to choose up the violin due to an image on the quilt of an train e book her mom introduced residence. “There was a bit of lady holding a violin, sporting frilly white socks and a bit of white gown with a crimson ribbon,” Junia mentioned. “I used to be like, I wish to be her, as a result of I appreciated her outfit.”
She and Laufey attended the identical faculties, performed in the identical orchestras and finally utilized to all the identical schools besides Berklee Faculty of Music in Boston, the place Laufey was accepted and studied music enterprise. Junia left for St. Andrews, Scotland. Their time aside was “like a progress spurt for the persona,” mentioned Junia, who found a “saucy” humorousness whereas finding out worldwide relations.
Junia studied music as a minor, however she had no intention of changing into an expert musician. “I needed to be a neat, good lady who received good grades and went to regulation college or labored in finance or one thing,” she mentioned. She beloved music, however didn’t actually see her place in it. “I simply knew it was one thing I used to be going to surrender.”
After graduating in 2022, Junia spent 4 uninspiring days working for a monetary know-how firm. She then interned on the inventive model partnerships group at Common Music Group, pondering she would possibly pursue a profession within the enterprise aspect of the music trade.
Laufey has remained targeted on music, together with a 2021 EP, “Typical of me,” which she launched whereas in faculty. (Junia took the Polaroid that’s on the album cowl.) In the summertime of 2023, Laufey’s profession exploded, by way of a bossa nova-influenced music that went from TikTok virality to Late Night TV.
Junia conceptualized a music video for that music, “From the Begin,” which was impressed partially by Nordic designers Arne Jacobsen and Eero Saarinen. The video now has greater than 28 million views on YouTube. Quickly she was taking over extra work, like designing merchandise and finding out previous posters from the Montreux Jazz Pageant to encourage artwork for Laufey’s upcoming tour.
Junia had been taking weeks off from her internship to help her sister’s development, nevertheless it was changing into unsustainable. Every sister needed to work full-time with the particular person she felt understood her imaginative and prescient on a mobile stage. She left her internship at Common final September.
“I believe she actually needed to show herself earlier than she turned, like, ‘the sister,’” Laufey mentioned in a telephone interview. Followers shouldn’t underestimate how a lot the public-facing Laufey was influenced by Junia, she added. “Each visible factor you see is hers,” Laufey mentioned. “Each photograph shoot. Each outfit, she works with the stylist. Each music video. Each cowl.”
Laufey mentioned it was unlikely she would purchase any merchandise of clothes with out first consulting her sister. “She’s my fashion icon,” she mentioned.
‘It is the Clone’
On the sweaty afternoon we met for lunch final month, Junia was visiting New York to assist her sister carry out on “The Kelly Clarkson Present.” She was working with a set designer to think about an egg-shaped chair applicable for the bittersweet aspect of Laufey’s music “Bored”: “Possibly you’re too useless to be attention-grabbing/Honey, you retain speaking, however nobody’s listening.”
Junia wore a pleated turtleneck and Mary Janes for the interview, accessorized with a pair of honey-colored Miu Miu sun shades. The sisters targeted on a method that leaned French and female, a mixture of dreamy camisoles and A-line attire. It’s paying homage to the Fifties and ’60s — periods also present in Laufey’s music — and steers away from something that might be learn as Thirties jazz membership cosplay. “I’ve a strict no-vest coverage,” Junia mentioned.
The look has been enthusiastically adopted by followers who attend Laufey’s live shows dressed kind of just like the lady on the quilt of Junia’s childhood violin train e book. A live performance attendee joked that it was virtually inconceivable to fulfill mates at a Laufey present as a result of everybody wore related bows of their hair.
“She’s actually good at discovering one thing, romanticizing it and understanding it’s going to stay,” Laufey mentioned.
Junia can envision a future the place she works for a clothes or equipment model, and has been attempting to strengthen her connections with the style world. She has made the rounds at a launch occasion for Marc Jacobs and the Vivienne Westwood public sale at Christie’s. She wish to be within the viewers at future style weeks.
However she nonetheless plans to work along with her sister so long as it’s an choice. She doesn’t care about dismantling the identities they’ve labored so onerous to differentiate; as a substitute, she spends plenty of time on-line making enjoyable of her sister, taking bites out of her post-show quesadillas or doing it take out the garbage.
These glimpses into the mundane actuality of fraternity appear to be appreciated by the duo’s followers. In a TikTok video, Junia ventures to a cheering crowd outdoors one in all Laufey’s exhibits. “Cease the fanfare!” she says. “It’s the clone!” They applaud anyway.
