The Subtle Art of Couples Who Match Their Clothes

The other day, en route to a date at Christie’s Auction House, Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez stepped out in looks that lightly matched. Both were dressed in a kind of assassin's uniform — long coats and sunglasses — looking different enough but also in sync. The pairing felt totally unlike the cringeworthy matchy-matchy images of, say, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears in head-to-toe eveningwear denim at the 2001 American Music Awards. Or megastars Victoria and David Beckham in 1999 who took a more-is-more approach to matching when they celebrated their wedding reception by both donning the same striking hue of purple. Instead, Lopez and Rodriguez appeared as if their personal styles had gently rubbed off on each other, with only chic results.

Couples who subtly match have historically evoked an effortlessly cool attitude. Take Gwyneth Paltrow: In the late ‘90, she had a yin-yang aesthetic with then-fiancé Brad Pitt. Both of them favored leather blazers and slacker sweaters. (An ultimate testament to their allegiance to each other came with the debut of the same double-take, chin-length, blond hairdos at a movie premiere back in 1997.) Later on, in the 2000s, she dated Ben Affleck. One stellar airport photo shows Paltrow arm-in-arm with a hulking, goatee-sporting Affleck — both are wearing gray and black and casting long and linear silhouettes.

Other famous low-key twinners include Winona Ryder and her former fiancé Johnny Depp. In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, the two had a collection of tailored blazers that they louchely styled with tee shirts and a bevy of sleeveless tanks. After Ryder and Depp had split, he began dating model Kate Moss. Paparazzi-snapped photos show Depp and Moss sporting worn-in vintage leather jackets or in chunky sweaters.

Is matching such a bizarre phenomenon among those in love? Not necessarily. My mother often says that people are attracted to partners who resemble themselves. (The first time she met my former boyfriend, she looked him up and down and said, “You two look like brother and sister.” That day, I was wearing his leather jacket.) My mother’s theory isn’t totally unfounded: Scientifically, people are attracted to mirrors of themselves.. Freakily enough, this is also true with dogs—yes, there is the idea that people choose dogs that resemble themselves.

But significant others and their mimicking outfits may be a result not of science but of sharing a wardrobe. Vogue.com Culture Editor Alessandra Codinha weighs in on this point. “My boyfriend and I share, I think, a similar affinity for the classics: good blue jeans, cashmere sweaters in neutral tones, good t-shirts,” she writes. “I think that if we had never met, he wouldn't be dressing drastically differently (nor would I), but I do think we have probably 'rubbed off' on each other. We spend a lot of time together and are exposed to the same things.”

Vogue.com’s Fashion News and Emerging Platforms Editor Steff Yotka had an almost telepathic sharing experience recently when she showed up at a concert with her boyfriend to discover they were both wearing striped shirts. This kind of thing is not that unusual. “It happens about three times a week,” she says. There is, of course, a confounding factor in Yotka's case. “I buy most of his clothes.”

On the runway, lookalike wardrobes between couples have been a thing for awhile. While Undercover and Thom Browne have gone the literal doppelgänger route, which can be a bit freaky IRL, Opening Ceremony’s Spring 2018 lookbook showed couples wearing looks that could have been charmingly plucked from the same closet. Meanwhile, Balenciaga's Spring 2018 Mens show took things a step further, presenting families all in similar styles.

As for those who put it into action? In South Korea, couples actually attend fashion week dressed up to complement one another. Maybe they're on to something. At the end of the day, an easy, breezy, and not-super-contrived matching outfit can be a way to say "we're together." And that's never a bad look.