If you retrace the experiences of your school life, you might have a classmate who is a twin. Of course, the reader who reads this article might be a twin! There are a lot of twin students at Hongik University, and in this article let me introduce you my twin friend.

Have you ever watched the Trailblazer advertisement from Chevrolet? If you did, you might see twin sisters at the start of the advertisement. In the advertisement twin sisters nod lightly to the addictive music and this attracted the attention of the public. I will introduce to you one of the models from the Trailblazer advertisement, Lee Dajin. She is a model with her twin sister and runs her own clothing brand.

Hongik Tidings (HT): Hello! Please introduce yourself to our readers.

Dajin (DJ): Hello, my name is Lee Dajin, and I major in Korean Language and Literature with a double major in Textile Art and Fashion Design. I work as a model with my twin sister as part of the ESteem modelling agency and I also run a female avant-garde clothing brand named Nache.

HT: The main topic of this May edition of Tidings is twins. Please tell us your twins’ story.

DJ: We wanted to go to different classes since we were fourth grade students in elementary school, unlike other twin sisters or brothers. So, we entered different middle and high schools. We thought that other twins were the same as us, but most of them would go to the same school. We were individualistic. We are best friends with each other, but we try to keep separate from each other’s own space. Of course, we fought almost every day when we were students but now, she is my best friend and partner.

Many neighborhood friends have confused us. I once joked to my school friend “I’m Hajin” (Dajin’s twin sister’s name), not Dajin. I told my friend the truth after we graduated but she didn’t recognize that it was a joke. We have taken part time-job interviews instead of each other. Also, there was a funny story when one of Hajin’s teachers saw me with my boyfriend. The next day the teacher scolded Hajin for being in a relationship. So, she explained that she is a twin and that the person the teacher saw was her sister, but the teacher thought she was lying. So, the teacher called my mother to check the truth.

HT: Have you ever had any special feelings for your sister, especially as twins?

DJ: I thank her, especially when we work together. If I have to work alone, it will be harder and more stressful for me. I don’t get nervous with her when we do model shoots because she is family and my best friend. So, whenever I have troubles or get depressed, thinking that I have the best and most amazing sister gives me strength. Thanks to her I gain confidence that everything will be fine even if I failed some of my work.

HT: You and your twin sister are working as fashion models. How did you decide to try that? Did you and your twin sister influence each other?

DJ: The reason that I came to Seoul was because I really wanted to study fashion design. My twin sister has studied Fashion and Design in ChungAng University, I originally went to DongA University. But I decided to drop out of school and self-studied one more year and then entered Hongik University.

At first, I did photo shoots as a model alone. By chance we got a shoot as models together, and since that time many people wanted to work with us. We like to give some feedback to each other, like different poses and how to control our weight.

HT: You have done lots of work with your twin sister. There is the Trailblazer advertisement of Chevrolet which is the best known, a Dr. Martens’s pictorial and music videos, etc. Is it different being a twin model and are there pros and cons working as a single model or as a twin model?

DJ: Being a model with a twin, it is hard to work with another model except my twin sister. Most of the works are planned for us as twins. So, it is a pro and con at the same time. The advantage is I can work comfortably with my twin sister. However, working with other models makes me nervous but it can motivate me because I can learn from other models. Being with my twin sister can make it hard to do something new. That is a negative.

HT: Do you have any special moments about your work? As a single or twin model?

DJ: The Trailblazer advertisement by Chevrolet remains my best memory. I had to dance in the advertisement, but I am a bad dancer. So, I took dance lessons every day and practiced hard. However, it was more difficult than I expected because I don’t have any basic dancing talent. To make it worse, the shoot was delayed so I had to dance alone instead of with Hajin. I practiced every day, but it was hard to dance ‘well’. While practicing the dance, I thought about how I wanted to do well on upcoming things in the future. After that shoot, I decided to work out and do Pilates to embrace any situation in a more prepared state.

HT: Now you run your own clothing brand named Nache, how did you start? It might have been more difficult to start a clothing brand because you do not major in that subject. How did you overcome the difficulties?

DJ: I applied for the business start-up support program at Hongik University when I took a clothing pattern design class to study clothing. Although the support program provided only \500000, I made a prototype and somebody pre-ordered via Instagram. That was the start of my brand, and now, the business scale has grown. Of course, there were a lot of difficulties, but I had no fear or worries about the new start. When I studied an extra year to go to university, I learned that I can overcome everything if I try my best. It was difficult and busy to go to university, do a part-time job and prepare launching the clothing brand at the same time, but I was happy and had energy. The reason I can run this brand now is that my goal is to grow slowly to the next step without greed being the measure of success at first. If the goals were too big in the beginning, running the brand would be hard and tiring. Approaching slowly to the next step makes me succeed better than I expected.

HT: Do you have another goal or final wish?

DJ: As I said before, I didn’t make a big goal. I just think about the next step that I can do now, like releasing the 2020 summer clothing collection as soon as possible or finishing some collaborative designs. My final wish is designing clothes throughout my life. I will be happy if I can do that.

HT: Please say goodbye to our readers!

DJ: I have something I want to talk about, not just say goodbye. I recommend you search the many business start-up support programs at Hongik University and from the government. There are many support programs you can get when you are a student. You can find some talents that you didn’t know you had, and your life can be changed! Take a chance, don’t be scared and challenge yourself to something new. I hope my advice isn’t a cliché to you. Thanks for reading!

Heo Junyoung  gyunz0224@naver.com

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