How to tell OT apart?

[russianOTMA]

I could never tell, anyone know how?

I didn't know where to put this, so I hope in here is okay.

[anna11]

Well...Tatiana's face is more narrow, her eyes are thinner and wide. As opposed to Olga, whose face is round, and she has 'tall' eyes.

[Sarushka]

Olga's most distinguishing feature, even as an infant, is her round face and large head:




Before she turned 16 and began wearing her hair up, Olga's hairline tended to be high and square, as you can see in these photos:




Olga's hair was also wavier and had much more volume than Tatiana's. Tatiana on the left, Olga on the right:





In addition to her narrower, more delicate features, Tatiana's eyes also have a slightly asian shape and tilt:




It's easy to spot Tatiana in 1913 and 1914. She wore a wig in 1913, and had short hair in 1914. There are some good closeup photos of her wig on this page.


Spending some time looking through the online albums at Livadia.org will help you learn how to tell OT apart:
http://www.livadia.org/olishka/album1.html
http://www.livadia.org/olishka/album2.html
http://www.livadia.org/olishka/album3.html

http://www.livadia.org/tanya/album1.html
http://www.livadia.org/tanya/album2.html

[Lalee]

Also, the colour of their hair and eyes were quite opposite. Olga had chestnut blonde hair where as Tatiana had auburn hair (a dark brown, reddish colour). Olga had the lighter features, and Tatiana had the darker features. I find that their facial features don't look very much alike. Tatiana had the more regular features. She looked more like her mother, where as Olga looked more like her father.

[Ally Kumari]

The hair and eye colours cannot tell the difference, since we have to deal with BW photos, and Tatiana´s hair sometims look almost blond.

[Tati-Fan]

Some views of Tatiana's face:

[Lalee]

The hair and eye colours cannot tell the difference, since we have to deal with BW photos, and Tatiana´s hair sometims look almost blond.

That's true. But I don't think Olga and Tatiana look much alike at all. They seem to be almost opposite. Tatiana had thinner eyes, a regular nose and a longer face. Whenever I look at the B&W photographs I always imagine for Tatiana to have black hair. It does seem to be quite dark.

[Ally Kumari]

As far as I know Tatiana´s hair were beautiful auburn with red glints.
To a common persons eye all OTMA lok very much alike - I couldn´t recongnize them, only after I saw at least hundred photos. My mummy says that they all looked alike, and were different at the same time.

[anna11]

I don't think they look alike at all actually, not compared to other sisters.  And they all changed a lot as they grew, Olga at about 10 looks way different to adult Olga.

Olga and Maria looked similar in their later years. Maria and Anastasia looked alike in their younger years.  Tatiana looked very different to them all.

[Love4Royalty]

I can't tell Olga and Tatiana apart when they were children.  I probably just don't see enough pictures, though.  However, when Olga is older, she has a short square face where Tatiana has a long and slender face.

[Holly]

I can always tell them apart in any photograph; probably because I've seen so many and looked at them for years. I don't see it being hard to tell Olga and Tatiana apart since they had distinctive differences in their facial features. OTMA have a lot of differences but you can tell they're sisters.

[nena]

Ecxuse me, Olga or Tatiana:

I know Tatiana was tallest member in IF, but girl here looks like Olga. Help!
p.s. NII at O/T, Tobolsk, 1917/8.
I can make difference beetwen OT, but here......

[Marie-Catherine]

I was always pretty sure it was Tatiana.

[Holly]

Ecxuse me, Olga or Tatiana:

I know Tatiana was tallest member in IF, but girl here looks like Olga. Help!
p.s. NII at O/T, Tobolsk, 1917/8.
I can make difference beetwen OT, but here......

That is Tatiana.

[tatianolishka_1]

Yup, Tatiana. The shape of her nose gives it away