From Bennifer to the Biebers, stars step out in matching outfits again | Fashion
Pleather trousers, locket necklaces and Purely natural Born Killers T-shirts: in the course of this holiday getaway time, Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly cemented their 2021 vogue standing with a common seem – matching styles.
The pandemic has experienced a regressive result on style: purchasers swapped their office uniforms for tracksuit bottoms and in lieu of any style tendencies that trapped, we clung to the past, reviving appears from the 60s, the 70s and Y2k.
One particular of the most surprising revivals has been the trend of celebrity partners dressing alike. In the late 90s and early 00s we had Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears in double denim, Victoria and David Beckham in matching Matrix-inspired leather jumpsuits, and even the likes of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher jumped on the bandwagon.
The moment yet again, in 2021, celebrity partners begun dressing in complementary outfits. Major the craze was the reconfigured Bennifer (Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez), reunited after approximately two a long time apart (they to begin with broke up in 2002). The duo signalled their togetherness with matching vogue selections. Their past general public outing, earlier this thirty day period, observed them twinning in PG-13 sky blue. And wherever they led, other individuals adopted.
From Justin and Hailey Bieber in pumpkin-coloured coats to the aforementioned Fox and Kelly, and Blink-182’s Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian, Bennifer underlined the worth of creating a model identification as a result of a matching wardrobe. “This behaviour is about performative couplehood,” stated Prof Alison Goodrum from Norwich College of the Arts.
Goodrum claims the pandemic has altered the way partners specific their closeness in general public. “In a adjusted globe where by general public displays of passion, contact and physical proximity are discouraged, couples have turned to substitute approaches of signalling their partnerships.”
Shared wardrobes reveal intimacy but can also sign modifications in community personas. When Kardashian and Fox began dressing as goth-punks (like their respective beaux, Barker and Kelly), they got a raise, including things of edginess and hazard to their photos. “Complementary dressing is seldom one thing that happens without having planning or intent,” states Goodrum. “Dressing alike is a handy resource for any purple carpet few to employ in the development or enhancement of their personalized branding. It is a shorthand to signal messages about their life style, tastes, standing and even ideologies.”
But what does it say when a star with a robust private identity begins to costume to complement their partner’s attire? In August, the jewellery retailer Tiffany employed Beyoncé and Jay-Z, dressing them in matching night attire, in a conscious hard work to appeal to a more youthful client to the luxurious brand. The influence appeared at odds with Beyoncé’s exclusive manufacturer of independence and self-really like.
“Fashion is normally regarded to be a materials suggests of self-expression and individuality, so there is a curious contradiction that surrounds both the thought and the practice of pair-dressing in this regard,” states Goodrum. “To dress in an deliberately comparable way to another person else might be regarded as by some to be problematic, a menace to one’s genuine self, a loss of one’s identity or a denial.”