Is twinning always winning when it comes to mother/daughter dressing?

The Duchess of Cambridge is well known for her diplomatic dressing. But as the Cambridge family arrived in Berlin, she added a new twist to her style portfolio – twinning with her daughter Princess Charlotte.

While Kate wore a Catherine Walker colour-block coat-dress, little Charlotte adopted a pretty, smock dress in a strikingly similar cornflower blue, no doubt a nod to the flower which is traditionally seen as a symbol of the country.

Mother/daughter fashion twinning is totally a thing right now. Leading the matchy matchy pack is Kim Kardashian and Beyonce and their mini-me’s North West and Blue Ivy.

Last year Kim and daughter Nori stepped out in matching floor length sequin £7000 dresses by label-du-jour Vetements to attend a Kanye West concert in New York. The Internet went wild for their twinning moment, but it was far from the only mama/bubba look the pair have pulled off.

Just this week the duo stepped out in near identical athleisure ensembles. Both in sporty Adidas shorts, the only difference was that while Nori donned adorable furry slides, mum Kim stuck with more grown-up stilettos.

Matchy-matchy looks are par for the course on Beyonce’s Instagram account, too. From floral dresses, to red carpet-esque gowns Bey and Blue regularly twin their outfits with equal aplomb.

Pink and daughter Willow are also not above the whole twin thing. Just last week the edgy singer shared a cute snap to Instagram showing herself and Willow rocking coordinating floral-printed threads by designer Tysa.

If it’s cool enough for Pink!

But matching your outfit to that of your offspring wasn’t always so well received. Anyone under the age of 30 likely won’t remember, but ex-Eastenders star Daniella Westbrook had a rather cringe stint of family-style dressing head-to-toe in Burberry. It still makes me shudder slightly (sorry, Daniella).

For this reason I’ve always resisted the opportunity to twin with my, er, twins. Just last week we were holiday shopping and I spotted a cute tasseled cover-up that came in mini and grown-up sizes. My daughter begged me to buy them both, but somehow I just couldn’t bring myself to jump on the matchy matchy bandwagon.

It seems I’m in the minority though. Type the hashtag #twinning into Instagram and it will throw up more than two million photos of siblings, friends and parents in their co-ordinated get-ups.

Unsurprisingly super savvy brands are cashing in on the whole phenomenon. Labels such as Nor-Folk, Tease and Totes and Stella McCartney all cater for those who want to dip into the whole parent/child twin thing.

And many of them are cottoning on to the fact that there’s totally a right way to do it. Think stylish clothes flattering enough for a grown-up twinned with near-identical outfits for kiddies that don’t make either party look like they are flogging an outfit inappropriate for their age.

So what is it about style twinning that has the world enthralled?

Molly Gunn, founder of Selfish Mother who have a range of parent/child T-shirts, believes donning an identical look can be a good way of bonding with you little ones.

“Matching clothes with your child is a bit cheeky, it’s a little bit silly, but beyond that – it’s a lovely bonding moment between you and them,” she writes in the Telegraph. “You feel like a team when you’re wearing something the same.”

“Matching outfits makes it feel like it’s you and them against the world; a knowing nod-and-a-wink at your parent-child relationship. It also puts emphasis on how important they are to you – which is especially relevant when the parent is a superstar attending a busy event where the star attraction just happens to be your Dad.”

Natalie Alexis-Lee, an Instagram influencer who runs fashion and lifestyle blog Style Me Sunday agrees that twinning is a bit of fun. “I wouldn’t dream of doing it regularly,” she tells Yahoo Style.

“It does make me cringe a little when you see people who do it all the time. I would never force my daughter/s to twin with me. Trying to get them to just wear clothes is often a big enough battle.”

But isn’t the whole thing a little, er, naff? Ashling McCloy – Style Editor & Co-founder of lifestyle blog, Triplemelt doesn’t think so.

“There’s no denying the mini-me fashion trend is at its peak,” she tells Yahoo Style. “With social media playing a huge factor, childrenswear has never been so in vogue; über glam mum bloggers are turning babies into InstaStars and designers such as Gucci, Stella McCartney and Dolce & Gabbana are all getting in on the action – and stylishly so.”

But though she believes twinning is a bit of fun, she has a word of warning about letting children find their own sense of style and dressing age appropriate.

“With two daughters of my own, I can see the appeal and on more than one occasion they’ve looked liked little versions of myself. But I want my children to find their own style, their own identity,” she says.

“My youngest loves a batgirl tee and a tulle skirt – who’s to say I’m not keen to copy her?! That’s why mothers and daughters can both be found rummaging through the rails of Topshop – fashion no longer has age limitations. For me, the mini-me look is incredibly cute, as long as kids still look like children, and mums don’t take it too seriously. Bat girl tee to work it is…”

So it seems, for the time being at least, the twinning trend is here to stay. Maybe I’ll head back to get that matchy-matchy holiday cover-up after all?

Kim, I’m blaming you!

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