Fashions for Two - clothing and dress for couples - Brief Article

Ebony, Feb, 2000

For The New Black Woman

WHEN you're in high school, dressing as a couple comes easy. You d your honey might sport his-and-her sweatshirts to amusement parks or football games. Others might show their togetherness by wearing matching colors to prom--the guy picking up the shade of his date's dress in his cummerbund and tie. But the rules change when you get older. The same get-ups that caused syrupy sighs of envy when you were 15 can inspire eye rolls and nudges when you're 35.

"All that matchy, matchy dressing is so college," says Anthony Mark Hankins, Black designer and author of Fabric of Dreams: Designing My Own Success. "It's `Joanie loves Chachi' kind of stuff."

For adult couples, fashion is not child's play. It's all about subtlety, knowing how to complement your mate's clothing without looking like you've tried.

Consider the mirror elegance of celebrity pairs such as Jada Pinkett-Smith and Will Smith, Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance and Oprah Winfrey and Stedman Graham. Their coordinated ensembles suggest their closeness with a whisper rather than a scream.

"The way to celebrate you're together is through fabric and texture," says Hankins, in his sixth season with the Fashion Shopping Network. "If you wear cashmere, he could wear cashmere, or if you wear flat-front cargos or chinos, he could do the same."

Hankins says his twin sister and her boyfriend have the fashions-for-two thing down. She may wear a deep red microfiber shirt and he may wear one in steel gray. When they match their tops with black bottoms and chunky shoes, people know they're an item because they share the same good taste. Couples can choose clothes from the same designer for a more uniform appearance, he says. Or they can shop at stores that feature clothing for both sexes. Whatever the choice, the look should be understated and minimal.

"You don't have to wear the same colors to look like you're a couple," says Hankins. "That's so tired. If he's wearing buffalo checks, don't you wear them. Instead, think simple. If you're doing fitted on top, he can do fitted if he has a good body or if you plan to wear a wedge shoe, he can wear his."

Charilyn and Conrad Goolsby of Detroit know how to show off their togetherness without sacrificing style.

"The best way to complement your mate's dress is through color combination or through fabric," says Charilyn, a special events planner. "In the summer, we wear a lot of light-colored linen or silk. We may wear different styles but the same fabric. That's a good way for us to complement each other without appearing so obvious."

She says it's rare for couples to find an appropriate occasion to dress identically. Picnics might be an acceptable time. Other times, Charilyn says dressing alike can appear childish.

"People really shouldn't notice your outfit and say, `Oh, they're dressed alike,'" she says. "They should notice there's something pleasant about the way you're dressed. Your clothing shouldn't be you. It should be a part of you."

The same philosophy goes for formal dressing, say the Goolsbys. The couple plans to attend the premier of the Detroit auto show. Conrad, owner of a local promotional goods company, will wear a tux so that Charilyn can have more freedom with her gown.

"Since he's wearing a tux, I can wear almost anything," she says.

The two don't try to dress alike. Instead, they strive for clean, classic lines and let that look express their twin style. Hankins says that's the '90s way to do couples dressing right.

To bring more conplementary fashions into your wardrobe, the designer says when you shop, keep your significant other in mind. You might find a great-looking sweatsuit and pick up a complementary one for your sweetie. Or maybe you'll both buy leather jackets. His could be a trench that brushes his knee and yours could be a pea coat that hugs your thighs.

Hankins says you can even show unity with accessories. He points to the polished looks of mates such as Dallas mayor Ronald Kirk, and his wife, Matrice, who both wear tortoise shell glasses, as an example of couple chic. "I think that shows such love and respect and at the same time shows their intelligence," he says.

Beulah Cooley, designer of The Beulah Cooley Collection, a line featuring women's fashions in denim, burlap and linen, says you can learn something about a couples' psyche through their dress.

"It says something about the mind of a couple when you see them dressed alike," says the Detroit woman. "It makes me think of that old saying that reverts back to the Bible, `The family that prays together stays together.' In this case, it's the family who dresses together that stays together."

By contrast, couples who dress completely different can seem out of synch: "It looks like they're in two different worlds," she says.

The designer says you can maintain your individuality but also show you are part of a pair by choosing outfits that complement rather than match.

"If my husband and I go out and he has on a black tux, I might wear an off-white dress," says Cooley, who has been married for 31 years. "But if he wore a pinstripe suit, I wouldn't wear one too. That would be a bit much."