This morning, the UK’s Daily Mail published a story that is headlined “Make-up free Ashley Olsen is unrecognisable in casual jeans and a shirt as she shares a smoke break with mystery man.” However, the four pictures that accompany the article, each of which are captioned with Ashley’s name, are all clearly of Mary-Kate (a lack of makeup is no excuse). To make matters worse, at the end of the story, they include a picture of the real Ashley Olsen with the caption “Usual style: Last week Mary-Kate was pictured taking her dog for a walk in an Amish-inspired white shirt and navy blue circle skirt.” The thing is, that outfit is so Ashley’s “usual style.”

What is particularly ironic about this mistake is that, in these photographs, each girl’s outfit is an unmistakable representation of its wearer’s style. This kind of mix-up was forgivable from the ages of 0-16 when they basically just wore the same outfits in different colors to every appearance, but now the recently-turned 25-year-old fashion designers have developed their own distinct way of dressing. Without studying their facial features (which look identical to me, even though they’re fraternal), I can identify an Olsen in a snap based on what she’s wearing. So, I’ve put together a guide on how to tell the Olsen twins apart based on their style, since there will obviously be several critical points in your life when you’ll need to have this ability.

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