You can spot them in an instant.
They`re the couples who play on the bowling team because they like the matching shirts. They`re the people who come home from vacation with T-shirts that read, ”I`m Dora. I belong to Fred.” And the obligatory ”I`m Fred. I belong to Dora.”
Haven`t caught these specimens on your block? Check under the Christmas tree for his-and-hers robes, sweatsuits, even ski togs. The Thanksgiving-to-Christmas season conjures up visions of family love and togetherness, making this the prime time for his-and-hers wear.
Though cynics might classify these couples as some mutant strain of humans, sociologists say spouses who dress alike exemplify our society`s emphasis on the importance of being a couple.
”For years, society has been stressing that married people are part of a team,” said Billy Gunter, a sociology professor at the University of South Florida. ”These are people who show outwardly their inward feelings. I think you see this in couples who almost never go anywhere without the other. And when one`s alone, they`re always being asked `Where`s Jane?` or `Where`s Bob?` ”
These people don`t wear their hearts on their sleeves; they wear them from head to toe. ”It`s togetherness taken to extremes,” Gunter said. ”By wearing matching clothes, they are showing that they belong to one another.” NEWLYWEDS PLUS
Newlyweds seem to be the greatest practitioners of this art, but anyone who has fallen madly in love may have fallen victim to the dress-alike demons. ”It`s a way of forging strong bonds,” said Charlene Lind, a Brigham Young University clothing and textiles professor. ”Newlyweds especially want community support to recognize that they`re a pair.” As for the older couples, Lind says elderly spouses who dress alike may have acquired the same tastes over the years. ”It may be comparable to the studies that show that people who live together for 30 or 40 years begin to look alike,” she said.
His-and-hers outfits-and their subset, mother-and-daughter clothes-date back to the `40s and `50s, when postwar society was struggling with a rapidly rising divorce rate.
”It really looked like the whole family system was crumbling,” Gunter said. ”In the first years after the war, the divorce rate shot out of sight. So what happened in the `50s was a campaign of immense proportions.
”Churches, schools, local clubs-every kind of organization possible-started emphasizing family togetherness. You`d see billboards that said,
`The family that prays together stays together` or `The family that plays together stays together.` Of course these were accompanied by pictures of a very handsome man and his beautiful wife and two beautiful children.”
During those postwar years, America saw the first advertisements for his- and-hers clothes and the ever-popular mother-and-daughter outfits.
”You`d see all these ads with the daughter looking up to Mom like she idolizes her,” said Susan Kaiser, author of ”The Social Psychology of Clothing.” Similarly, the happy couples in their matching sweater sets seemed as if they might glow off the page.
CATALOGUE STAPLES
Today, these ensembles aren`t the year-round favorites they were in the 1950s, but his-and-hers robes, pajama sets and sweatsuits remain a staple in the Christmas deluge of catalogues.
At J.C. Penney, store buyers have discovered that look-alike clothes are most popular this time of year, but the unisex outfits continue to be relegated to the catalogue. ”We`re doing very well in all three (his-and-hers) areas-sweaters, fleecewear and pajamas-especially in the fall and at Christmas,” said Barrie Burgess, a merchandising director with the chain`s headquarters. ”They make terrific presents for a husband and wife.”
”Oh, we still sell a lot of those,” said a spokeswoman for Spiegel`s catalogue-one of the mail-order clothiers that regularly feature his-and-hers outfits and the mother-daughter nightgown sets.
Outside of catalogues, his-and-hers clothing is as elusive as Nehru jackets. Sociologists say the decline is really a sign of the times. ”We`ve just gone through a decade that emphasized the importance of the individual, not of bonding,” Lind said. ”We are all being told that we should be the unique me.” –
