Coordinated Dressing

He/She Did It

By Margaret Murray-Traunfeld

Dressing your twins may give you the same questions, to dress identical or not. When we found out we were expecting twins, my husband was adamantly opposed to dressing them the same ever, I on the other hand thought it was adorable. We've settled on a strategy that keeps us both happy and as our twins aren't old enough to express a differing opinion, it works.

We received lots of different outfits from friends and family, and the dressing system that works best for us is coordinated outfits. I'm happy, people can see they are twins, and my husband is happy, they aren't little clones. For the coordinated look I start with a basic item, maybe overalls, then I add different colored shirts. This is particularly helpful at family reunions, "Sam is wearing turquoise today, and Alex is wearing peach, Poppa." I'm a big fan of the overall look for playing because they always look neat even climbing up the slide for the umpteenth time. Sometimes I look for a basic shirt or top and coordinate it with different bottoms. Sam wears the green jumper and Alex wears the red jumper, each with a plain white shirt.

The nice thing about the coordinated look is that it can easily be used by any set of multiples, especially boy/girl multiples. While there is a wide range of clothes available for little girls, thanks to unisex fashions, matching outfits for boy/girl twins are much more difficult to find. You might also try different coordinating schemes for boy/girl twins. Imagine your little girl in a beautiful Scotch kilt and her brother in slacks with a vest of the same tartan.

Some outfits you see in stores really lend themselves to coordinated clothes, for example Winnie the Pooh outfits, each child can wear a different Pooh outfit, but they are all in the Pooh theme. Other possibilities for store lines include Mickey and Minnie Mouse, the Peanuts, and Blues Clues. Each child can wear an outfit from these collections, and since the outfits generally have similar color schemes they look great together, but each child is an individual. You might also want to consider something like basic shorts with different Hawaiian shirts, tropical fish or an African safari, or maybe a primary colored polo shirt with khaki bottoms. This is also a great way to include siblings, they may want to join the fun too. Imagine a family portrait with the whole group in Hawaiian shirts, sunglasses, and straw hats. All your friends will be envious of your "vacation."

With the holidays coming up, I've already started looking for outfits to last through the season. Something that will go from Thanksgiving Day to the beginning of the New Year. It's nice to have something extra special this time of year, you may like dresses in the same pattern, but different colors, or the same color with different hairbows, sashes, or tights. For your boys try matching slacks with different shirts, ties or suspenders. Everyone will look especially festive dressed to the nines.

There are definite benefits to the coordinated wardrobe, outfits aren't ruined at the first spill, laundry is easier to keep up with, and each child can be seen as an individual part of a group.

Ultimately you have to decide how your twins will face the world, dressed to match or not. Of course, although my twins often face the world in coordinated outfits, they usually enter Dream Land dressed in identical pajamas, and I still think it's adorable.