Sartorial similarity: Is it OK for couples to dress the same, or is it tacky?
As we stood by the front end door, preparing to leave the business firm, I announced to my husband, "I'm distressing, nosotros can't get on like this. One of the states has to change." No demand to call the divorce lawyer just yet, though; this isn't a judgment on our union. In fact, it'south a far more serious problem.
Nosotros were dressed the same.
The shared "lewk", if that isn't overselling our functional ensembles, was an oversized navy cashmere jumper, faded Levi'south, retro Nike trainers and a utilitarian mac. It'south standard weekend normcore, or in our case, couplecore. A brusk, sharp bout of grouse – pitiful, constructive chat – ensued over who had to become upstairs and notice something else to wear.
I accept a penchant for androgynous, "swain"-style wearable that means our wardrobes accept overlapped in the by, but lockdown has made this situation critical. Working from home means that I tin can at present rarely be bothered with the smarter touches that differentiated my wait from my husband's: A chain necklace, depression-heeled boots, a midi dress.
I'd love to say that this confluence of our clothes was downwardly to existence perfectly attuned as a couple, as nosotros navigate nigh on 86,400 seconds a day under the same roof (not that I'g counting). Only in truth, when your wardrobe is distilled downward to a few key items, there'due south simply not much room for differentiation.
"My married man and I have always looked like we're in the aforementioned band," says 1 self-employed friend in her 40s. "At present that I'chiliad skint because of COVID-xix and am not buying any new clothes, I steal his instead. In detail his very squeamish Uniqlo shirts." Another reports buying his and hers pyjamas from Desmond & Dempsey (monkey pattern for him, jaguars for her) and an FT colleague has institute that her boyfriend is copying her tracksuit uniform.
"My husband and I have always looked like nosotros're in the same ring."
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Simply without existence able to track and trace the verbal moment "couplecore" sets in, it'due south difficult to be certain whether two people are really twinning more than, or simply noticing it more than as they spend extended amounts of time together.
"We are slowly morphing into 1," said a friend who works for an NGO. She and her partner accept an enviable shared parenting uniform of colourful sheet trainers, skinny jeans and a quirky jumper, sometimes topped off with some slightly rave-way rainwear. Information technology doesn't scream matchy-matchy, but on closer inspection has a certain . . . continuity.
Shared aesthetics are a reflection of the growing trend for gender-fluid brands and collections.
In July, Gucci launched MX, a range of wearing apparel and accessories that features leopard-print coats, handbags, fluffy pastel jumpers and doll-like tea dresses aimed at all genders, and at underlining "the performative nature of what we wear, presenting masculinity and femininity as relative concepts". On the high street, Uniqlo has started to show its men's sweatshirts modelled by women too.
And so far, so freeing, but let'southward non forget the fashion car crash that was Posh and Becks wearing his and hers leather jackets and trousers in 1999, or Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears in their matching patchwork denim. And Instagram is awash with saccharine influencer duos in curated shades of beige, matched to their oatmilk flat whites.
For Simon Doonan, author of How to Be Yourself: Life-Changing Communication from a Reckless Contrarian, the thought of twinning with his husband Jonathan Adler, an interior and production designer, meets with a "quelle horreur!"
He explained: "We have very unlike styles and take always made a point of staying in our respective lanes. I am a scrap more tacky and flashy and Jonathan is more graphic and preppy. Never the twain shall come across."
However, sometimes he is a sucker for a more than co-ordinated arroyo in others: "I enjoy it when couples dress similarly, most especially when they take it to extremes, like Gilbert & George, or [Berlin artists] Eva & Adele."
There are other refreshing role models for the wait. Ane couple who recently went viral for their double-dressing were the Taiwanese octogenarians behind the Instagram account @wantshowasyoung.
The pair, who own a laundrette, were persuaded by their grandson to pose in garments left backside by customers and the effect is a cute, kitsch assortment of vintage-looking ensembles that complement rather than clone each other: Coloured shirts worn over white tees, and biker jackets in different hues.
Margherita Cardelli and husband Gerardo Cavaliere of Giuliva Heritage have mastered the complementary arroyo, and their new women's range for H&M is total of tailoring influenced past archetype menswear silhouettes.
"I am very inspired by Gerardo'southward way of dressing . . . and sometimes I actually borrow his dress," said Cardelli. "Information technology may happen we both wear a white flannel arrange that is in the men's and women's collections."
Is she not worried most looking a bit, well, naff? "It is normal for a couple to share time, passions, ideas and thoughts, so they are likely to exist similar in terms of wear." OK, peachy – but that navy jumper is mine.
By Carola Long © 2022 The Financial Times
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/obsessions/is-it-ok-for-couples-to-dress-the-same-247271
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