No, you're not seeing double because of your Thursday night rage. Meet Eric and John Finkelberg '13 identical twin brothers from San Diego who share as many similarities as the climate in Hanover and that of the lovely seaside city they call home. The copious amounts of energy that these twins exude is absolutely intoxicating. We literally did not stop laughing from the beginning of the photo shoot until the end of the interview.
They arrived in Collis, each with bags bursting at the seams, closely followed by a 4'11" Bolivian girl wrapped in an oversized navy peacoat that belonged to John.
John gestured towards her, "she's our entourage."
They dropped their bags and John asked, "Do you want us to match?" But before we could answer, Eric yelled "NO! We've never matched before in our lives you freak!"
Growing up they received fashion tips from their older sister Stephanie. Although some of their outfits worked as a unit, they made sure never to match. Even in their early teenage years their sister dictated what they could and could not wear, which gave an artsy east coast flavor to their wardrobe courtesy of her time at NYU.
They both atte nded private school while growing up. The restrictive uniforms, however, did not keep them from exploring their fashion sense. They loved changing up the uniform, adding scarves even though they lived in Southern California and wearing shorts or flip flops. They both agreed that the relaxed west coast attitude influenced their style pre-Dartmouth.
John, sitting in a purple and pink plaid oxford and a blue puffy vest, said his wardrobe used to have much more color than his outfits in dreary Hanover.
To which Eric replied, "I don't know how you could get more color than that shit that you're wearing now."
The main influence in their fashion, however, comes from their Mexican Jewish heritage. They talked about their time spent in Mexico City, surrounded by hundreds of fashionable people.
"It was like gossip girl in Spanish," John said. "Everyone would get dressed up to go to the grocery store because you never knew who you would run into."
This societal pressure, however knew no gender barriers. Both men and women see the importance of dressing well.
At Dartmouth they don't like what they refer to as "the traditional garb" of your typical Dartmouth student.
"Everyone's wearing boots, sweats and a sweatshirt looking like they haven't showered in months," said Eric, "I just can't do that. I just can't!"
John also admitted he draws inspiration from Eric to which Eric smiled and said, "Aw thanks J!"
The twins clearly have a competitive streak that comes out in the way they dress.
"I never tried to make it a competition," Eric said.
"Yes you have!" John responded. "He used to tell me I looked good when we were getting ready and then when we went out he would say I looked like shit because he wanted to look better than I did."
Eric laughed and replied, "No I just wanted you to hurry up because you took so long to get ready!"
These two feisty and fashionable boys prove that they look good regardless of the season, and we agree. If they can keep it trendy despite the negative five degree wind chill, Dartmouth, you can too.
If you see fashionable people on campus that deserve to be applauded, send them our way. We'd love your help in keeping Dartmouth looking fly!
