Fox Sweaters.

There's a Chinese girl in the dorm who's dating a Chinese boy from another dorm. It's her second boyfriend this year. The first had a reputation. This one wears matching clothes with her. Yes. Matching. Not similar colors. Not similar styles. The EXACT SAME sweater and the EXACT SAME sweat pants. The sweater is pencil-lead gray with the silouette of a white fox wrapped around the bottom left side. Apparently this is common in Asian fashion. No, not fox sweaters. Couples with matching clothing. From Huffpost women:

 

In eastern Asia, where PDA is still a taboo, couples have taken to synchronizing their outfits to display their affection. The trend is so popular that stores are starting to make outfits sold in pairs, and pictures of couples dressed identically have overtaken fashion magazines. When a couple who've been dressing the same break up, the clothes aren't worn again, which, on one hand, kind of sucks, but on the other hand ... POST-BREAKUP SHOPPING SPREE!!!!! We can sort of see the appeal.

While the idea of a couple wearing identical Bermuda shorts might make you want to gag, consider the alternative: couples swapping spit on the subway. Honestly, that's way worse than matching graphic hoodies.

 

With that explanation, this doesn't seem that weird to me. Am I rushing out to buy a matching LLBean outfit for Jared and me? No. But it does seem sort of sweet to see 15-year-old love. They wear them to the cafeteria. He wears his when he comes to visit her at the dorm, two teenagers snuggled as close as they can get in front of me on hard, scratchy dorm couches while he pretends he'd rather be talking to her than playing Super Mario Brothers on our big screen.

 

I just googled that sweater and (!!!!!!!) it's $495. They've been dating for a month. Tops. Sure, we know the odds are great they aren't going to get married. Or maybe even last until winter break. But matching clothing ($500 matching clothing, no less) adds a new level of committment to the relationship. It's a branding of sorts. I don't know that Jared and I could agree every morning on what we would wear. We can't even figure out a Halloween costume!

 

I have so many questions about this trend. Do they text each other in the morning with "fox swtr, gry swt pnts?" Or is it settled the night before? Who picks out the outfits originally? Who buys them? How long does this continue into the relationship? Is it a honeymoon phase type of thing or does it carry over into long term love? Does anyone ever keep the clothing from a past relationship? Is this offensive to the next person they date? Do people ever stay together because their favorite article of clothing happens to match the jerk they are dating? What if one person loses/gains a bunch of weight? Do they force their partner to abandon that piece of clothing?

 

And here's a question. What sort of weird things do Americans do like this?