The paucity of professional photographers available in frontier towns, coupled with the pioneering man's innate self-respect, resulted in a sad dearth of early images commemorating this clothing phenomonen (if you have any - please get in touch!) but that frugal long-ago seamstress has a lot to answer for.
At least that's my theory, although others believe the questionable sartorial custom of couples wearing matching outfits to be of extra-terrestrial origin....
Mid-century his'n'hers (or "partner dressing") had an undeniable charm, a soda fountain wholesomeness of innocent teen commitment which was the logical extension of letter sweaters and class rings. Adolescents could get away with (and look adorable) wearing matching pieces of knitwear which brought just the right degree of unity to otherwise completely different outfits....
Then, as now, it was when they went for head-to-toe co-ordination that warning lights began to flash....
Resort wear and Hawaiian themed clothing have long been beloved by his'n'hers designers - of course it becomes difficult to lose a family member in an unfamiliar place if they're wearing the same bold pattern as you are....
Throughout the 1960s his'n'hers style remained on an even keel, retaining its air of sunny naïveté... although one gets the feeling that the female partner was always the instigator, at least the fellows continued to handle the look with relative aplomb....
Cue the 70s - Sexual Revolution - Liberation - nothing shouted "equality" more categorically than a confident woman strutting out in the same outfit as her man. Much of the time both of them looked fabulous....
But there were always going to be exceptions. These usually involved jumpsuits....
Apparently they ran out of wool before they could draft a "shorts for him" pattern - if only he didn't look so pleased about it....
When the 80s came around a natural consequence of architectural shoulder pads and power dressing for women was the cruel emasculation of men by means of fashion. The tables abruptly turned, and where the previous decade's his'n'hers style had been about women having empowering fun with adaptations of what their men were wearing, suddenly men found themselves being dressed up in barely altered versions of womens clothes. And although they obediently bobbed along on the tide, they weren't happy about it.
A penny for his thoughts....
No longer did matching outfits state a simple "we're together".
Now they screamed possessively "he's mine - you can't have him." To which the unspoken response was "if he dresses like that you can keep him - I don't want him."
This is the period in which you'll notice the male partner no longer smiles into the camera - sometimes he manages to force some kind of upward-curving oral grimace but his eyes are invariably either resentful or brimming with panic....
The passion for his'n'hers dressing is almost extinct in the Western world these days, (or executed so subtly that no-one notices . . . a couple strolling along wearing white t-shirts and jeans doesn't draw a second glance) with the notable exception of one high profile pair who obviously derive such joy from dressing alike that it might just come back into vogue one day soon....
In fact in the not-too-distant future every man and his dog may again proudly sport his'n'hers outfits....
And the words and pictures match so beautifully too! Great theme, beautifully brought together, but I fear there will be nightmares now.
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