You have 0 items in your cart
There was a time when turning up to an event in the same outfit as someone else was the ultimate fashion faux pas. However, recently fashion insiders have been purposely embracing co-ordinating outfits; so when did it become okay to be so matchy matchy?
Unconsciously co-ordinating their outfits is something that couples and best friends have been doing for years; psychologists will tell us that it shows people are in tune with each other and well matched. Celebrity couples often intentionally match their outfits to show visually how great they are together and how in sync they are. But it can go horribly wrong, anyone remember Britney and Justin’s quadruple denim disaster? No? Lucky you! For those of you who do remember, it would have been enough to put you off matchy fashion for life.
But is it time to think again? Matchy fashion blogging duos, twins and best friends have been making an impact at fashion week and celebs like Victoria Beckham and Katie Holmes have been spotted co-ordinating their outfits with their young daughters, but does this trend translate to the streets when there are no flashbulbs around? French fashion label The Kooples (see Semple magazine issue three for a full brand profile) have built a whole brand around couples that want to co-ordinate their outfits. Now that men are more openly interested in fashion it seems only natural that couples would want to complement each other with their outfits.
Matchy fashion can turn heads but not always for the right reasons and it is a tricky line to tread; too distinctive an outfit will look ridiculous when seen in double vision but too ordinary an outfit will lose the point altogether. Matching your whole outfit to your friends is fraught with difficulty; the advance planning, the double purchases and not to mention that unless you are borderline twins the likelihood of one outfit flattering both of you equally is about a gazillion to one (sorry to any mathematicians who may be reading)!
If you do want to dip your toe into matchy fashion, co-ordination is a much safer route. Pick a colour scheme or mix and match separates so that your outfits work together without making onlookers worry that they are seeing double. Finally and most importantly, never match your outfit to your pets. There is no coming back from that fashion oblivion.
By Samantha Vandersteen
