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Mini bottles sprawled out over a nightstand, Ziplocks containing makeup scattered on a windowsill, metallic jackets and graphic crop tops piled on a chair– it sounds like a rockstar's taken up a hotel room for the night. Except we're in Miami, and Miami doesn't do rock. Miami is EDM, and the Aussie duo behind Nervo has taken the female lead.
Liv and Mim have come a long way since we spoke to them during Winter Music Conference last year. In the months following, the blonde-haired Covergirls began releasing songs from their soon-to-debut album, took over Hyde Beach at the SLS South Beach during WMC for Nervo Nation, and are set to release a clothing collaboration with college-style brand Franklin and Marshall. In addition, Forbes pointed out that they might possibly be the highest paid female act in EDM, pulling in an estimated $9 million before taxes.
You'd think they'd have bought themselves a few more suitcases with the extra pocket change, or upgraded to some magical jumbo monogrammed trunk. We were pleasantly surprised to see that these power sisters were just as down to earth and low maintenance as we remembered, and about the only thing that had changed was that they did indeed purchase another small suitcase... for their flatforms.
One year after they revealed to us their fashion and travel tips, we decided to raid their hotel room at the SLS and see how EDM's most stylish duo manages to tour the world for months on end carrying one or two suitcases each, never skimping on style or charm.
Beauty Essentials
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Nervo skips makeup sacks and packs their beauty essentials in clear plastic bags to avoid problems at TSA counters. What's the most important thing in those bags? "Makeup removers!" says Liv. That goes without saying, a fabulous set of glittered nails is key too.
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"So I need a head shaver because I need to shave my head, says Mim. "Liv does it. She's my hair dresser. She dyes it, cuts it, everything." As for how Mim gets her pixie cut to defy gravity, she only uses Fat Hair "0 Calorie" hairspray and a fine toothed comb.
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Just because you'r not home doesn't mean your hotel can't smell like it. The girls add a drop of lavender to their bedsheets every night, and douse themselves in Diptyque's L'Ombre dans l'Eau perfume.
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Oh, and never forget your toothbrush. That's the most important thing.
Style On The Road
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It's hard to believe that most of Liv's and Mim's stuff fits in one suitcase each, which they've decked out in awesome stickers from their favorite acts. "If we're anywhere for more than two days we unpack," says Liv. "Otherwise we don't."
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There is one exception to their minimalist traveler rule, however; they need an extra suitcase for their flatforms! "The problem is that a small wheelie only carries like three of them," says Liv. "So you pick and choose."
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Notable items in their suitcase include an O-Mighty Eminem crop top, a Beyonce and Jay-Z printed bikini, and a pizza snapback, plus tons of other totally covetable gear, including Liv's bowler hat, which has become her signature piece.
The Marshall and Franklin Collaboration
This year the duo teamed up with Franklin and Marshall to create their own line of Italian-made, collegiate style clothing, with their own badass, golden-hued twist.
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"We bought a jacket from Franklin and Marshall when we were in Tokyo. We wore it a lot and so the brand reached out to us on Facebook. This is probably when we had about 2,000 followers, three years ago," Liv said. "We were photographed in them a lot, so the company said they'd like to have us officially wear them in our videos and gave us some products and money for us to wear them. And now it's evolved and we were able to do a whole "Nervo" range."
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"So Franklin Marshall has a specific look, which we really like, so we knew that we had to stay within the range," Liv continued. "We love gold, so we said let's go with gold and stripes, so the theme of the whole range is gold and stripes. We just did the photoshoot for it three days ago."
Magic City Dreams
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Whether they're playing a set at Liv on New Year's Eve or taking over hotels for WMC, Miami has a place in Liv's and Mim's hearts. "Never would we have thought when we started coming as Ravers, before we went to Ultra when it was just parties and the music conference," says Liv. "Never would I have thought that seven years later we'd be throwing our own parties here!"