B.Spears & J.T.- No wonder they broke up.
While in Phuket, Koh Phi Phi and now Koh Samui, Amira and I have noticed one of the most disturbing trends. At least once a day we have noticed couples that are wearing matching outfits. In Koh Phi Phi alone we saw at least three different couples (or the same couple with multiple costume changes) wearing matching board shorts and Thailand tourist tees, I also witnessed this our first day on the beach in Koh Samui.
Matching shorts, check. Matching tee, check.
In Hawaii it’s common to see tourist couples wearing the same loud Hawaiian print mumu and shirt. In this case we have seen several couples who bought the same patterned board shorts in Hawaiian or zebra print and the same t-shirt or polo shirt, usually in a bright pink or purple.
Every time we’ve seen one of these unfortunate couples Amira and I just laugh and try to figure out how to subtly take a picture. I can’t help but wonder why a woman would do this to her boyfriend/husband/fiancée? Perhaps she did it because they were going on a large tour and she wanted to make sure they wouldn’t get separated and lost, similar to the bright purple school shirts we wore for field trips in elementary school. Maybe she read an article about how dog’s and their owners begin to look the same, and she thought this was a surefire way to get him to finally follow her directions and for god sakes, stop leaving the toilet seat up.
Now this I would pay to see!
Whatever the reason I can’t help but be a little annoyed by this trend. The other night we actually saw a couple wearing matching forest green shirts and khakis. The shirts read, “He’s my Romeo” and “She’s my Juliet” with arrows under them. As nice of a sentiment as this is, how do people always forget that Romeo & Juliet killed themselves at the end, and I’m pretty sure if they saw these shirts they would do it again.
This is my warning to all couples, honeymooners or otherwise, show your love with long walks on the beach or a toast to each other at dinner. Matching outfits do not tell the world anything about your relationship, except that you both have truly horrendous fashion sense.
One exception to matching was one family that we saw while staying at the Courtyard Marriott Kamala Beach. The family had a little boy and girl, and one night for dinner the mom and daughter both wore leggings with purple tunic tops and the dad and son both wore jeans with matching navy blue Hawaiian shirts. It was so cheesy that it was cute. And the kids were still young enough that they went along with it. Unfortunately we don’t have any pictures of these matching couples to share so I hope you enjoy some of the pictures I found online.
Happy travels!
The Lazy Graduate 
Jun 09, 2011 @ 12:17:03
Hilarious, but there are several potential reasons for such matching attrocities:
(1) one or both of the matching couples grew up in a Catholic school system and thinks this is normal dress code,
(2) their fathers were coaches in a team sports environment, thus they think they will perform better if they function as a team,
(3) it’s a possession thing…one or both of the two either don’t trust the wandering eyes of their partner or they want to make it clear to others that he/she is unavailable
(4) one of them (almost always the female) thinks of herself as the family fashion maven and thinks it’s her responsibility to dress her man (he acquiesses without a fight to avoid an arguement which he knows he can’t win)
(5) he a mindless wimp and has no say in the matter (a derivative of the above)…sort of like the mindless dog that let’s his/her master dress him/her in some cheesy looking outfit and also thinks this is canine fashion
(6) they recently sewed new drapes for the living room or reupholstered as chair and didn’t want to waste the remaining fabric.
or
(7) a combination of one or more of the above.
For example, your last photo of the cute couple are probably a combination of (3) and (6) above. The caption might read something like: “Don’t yo’ go messin’ with my man or yo’ gonna find yo’self stuffin’ for my easy chair.”
Jun 09, 2011 @ 15:52:16
LOL. Rick, all of those are very likely possibilities and help to ease the horror we experience every time we have to witness these unfortunate couples! #2 almost makes matching outfits a positive thing! Thanks for your beyond funny response!
Jun 10, 2011 @ 04:40:52
Nia, I completely agree about the matching outfits. Unless you have kids under the age of 6, and buy them all coordinating outfits for a family picture, matching outfits are fugly. And unnecessary.
Jun 10, 2011 @ 15:07:00
Thanks for the comment Liz! I have to admit I know my sister and I have many pictures in matching outfits probably until I was about 8 years old, but we also had very little control over what we wore and on the days we did choose our own outfits the alternative were t-shirts that had The Little Mermaid or Barney on them. Bottom Line: these couples need to grow up!
Hope you’re enjoying the blog!