October 8, 2012

Do couples, over time, eventually look alike?

"Two people. I call them 'Rummy Couples,' dressed all most alike. The last 5 years I managed to photograph 56 of them."

A Metafilter post... immediately attacked by commenters:

1. "I knew that they would be over 40 and in exercise gear. This phenomenon is called 'Team Couple.'"

2. "Where's the 'windbreaker' tag?"

16 comments:

30yearProf said...

Whew. 45 years have passed and we NEVER dress alike. Unless you call both wearing rain gear when it is raining, "alike"? Thank God!

Kevin said...

Strangely disappointing. There really are couples that grow to look alike, especially lesbians (much more so than gay men, imo. I wonder why?).

Rain jackets on sale do not a look-alike make.

Saint Croix said...

I noticed just yesterday that Mary Matalin is starting to look like James Carville.

Ann Althouse said...

"There really are couples that grow to look alike, especially lesbians..."

What I find unattractive is a heterosexual couple that ends up looking like 2 lesbians.

It's one thing to be a same-sex couple, but unless they're consciously pursuing a unisex look and have some style about it, a heterosexual couple should not look alike.

dbp said...

The problem is not that couples do not sometimes seem very alike. It is that the way they seem alike is in their mannerisms, the words they use and their vocal inflections. A still-photograph does not capture this and taking pictures where they both have the same jacket just doesn't cut it.

kjbe said...

So sayeth the Gospel of Ann.

Myself, I find it kind of sweet.

edutcher said...

What Kevin said. It's very obvious, they got a deal on jackets or they were giveaways of some sort.

Now The Blonde likes me in yellow or orange, but says she can't wear it and goes for red or purple (she likes to stand out - surprise!). Also, she has a pathology about green, which I don't.

Anonymous said...

Easier for old folks to locate each other.

Have you seen an old lady who dresses exactly like me?

Methadras said...

One thing I noticed in almost all of them. They were holding hands or touching each other in some way. That I liked.

jungatheart said...

"What I find unattractive is a heterosexual couple that ends up looking like 2 lesbians."

Interesting. Do you mean the man becomes feminine, the female becomes butch, or either?

William said...

It's not surprising that people living in intimate contact for decades would tend to adopt the same mannerisms and facial expressions. The ones who don't are called divorcees. It's surprising to note, however, that most of them seem to have the same amount of body fat. Even taking into account that they share the same diet, you'd think one would like chocolate or half marathons more than the other.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

When we travel, I dress my three children in the same rainbow tie-dyed shirt they got from their dentist. That way, if they're separated from us, I have an easy question...'have you seen a red-head in this shirt?' and point to remaining sibling.

I think it makes them a toughter target for any child predators. Haven't lost any yet, thank God.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

I have a friend who has 9 children. When they go on a family outing to the amusement park, they're all in the same colored shirt, parents and grandparents included.

They haven't lost any yet, either.

Craig Howard said...

Ann, we used to call them "steady shirts." By the late sixties, they'd begun to replace rings.

Upstate New York can't have been that different from your neck of the woods. You surely remember now.

Synova said...

I almost got the giggles at Costco because a couple was wearing different clothes (not team windbreakers) but the same colors. IIRC they had khaki green tops and tan pants. But in male and female styles. And I thought... she buys their clothes.

Known Unknown said...

To be fair, these couples are just all on their way to a Sadie Hawkins dance.

(note they are almost all European as well. )