Matching Clothes

One of the strands in my work involves images where people and their outfits match in a number of ways. This can be divided into subgroups – either consciously with each other, or coincidentally with the environment. There’s another category where individuals accessorise objects external to them, such as suitcases, to match their look. I have previously blogged on the theme of fashion and individuality which explores similarities in style amongst friends and family members. The first section of this blog is dedicated to images of mothers and very young children whose clothes match in some way.

A few days ago on a cold December morning, I was heading towards choir practice in Muswell Hill when I noticed a mother and baby in matching ski hats with huge furry pompoms:

I know that when I was a young child my mother and I sometimes wore matching outfits. I can’t find any old photographs but I had a flashback regarding our identical towelling beach dresses (which my mother sewed herself) when I saw Alina and her young daughter at Rottingdean in matching sunflower outfits. Alina told me that it was a touching moment for her when her daughter wanted to match dresses:

Polka dots on the train to Brighton, October 2021:

This mother’s romantic lacy dress and her child’s fur trimmed pram share the same tone of pink, Regents Park, 2021

Twinning in fashion is something I addressed in Fashion and Individuality back in early 2019, and the following two images are an update.

Hanging out in almost identical outfits, Palma de Mallorca, 2021:

Leopard coats and accessories in Bond Street, December 2021:

In terms of external accessories, the woman below seen on London Underground had gone for full on leopard:

And designer Daniel Chimowitz has hand-painted his suitcase as an extension of his look, Venice, Italy, 2018:

Back in 2015 I posted a couple of images taken in art galleries where individuals seem to merge with artwork.

The first was taken at a Sonia Delaunay retrospective at the Tate Modern that same year:

And the photograph below was shot at a Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the Tate back in 2012. I particularly like the way the bight hoodie which has a pink and red camouflage print is actually camouflaged as he stands with his back to her artwork. At the Tate’s 2021 Kusama exhibition I was struck by following text describing her mirror rooms: “In Kusama’s visual hallucinations, she becomes ‘obliterated’ by repeated dots. Here she invites us to share this ‘self-obliteration’ …making it hard to tell where you end and the rest of the room begins”.

At the most recent Kusama exhibition earlier this year I found myself corresponding to her artwork – I’m wearing a colourful, patterned Paul Smith raincoat:

And another selfie in which my face mask coincidentally matches the background wall – a temporary refurbishment at the Liberty store in London:

Ceramicist Carol McNicoll complementing the Eduardo Paolozzi mosaics at Tottenham Court Road Underground:

My mum in a leopard print sweater surrounded by animal print merchandise at Brent Cross Shopping Centre, 2019:

And finally a woman at the former ladies loos at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club whose shoes inadvertently match the floor tiles: