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Last week a new pair of students were added to one of my classes, which is already flowing with childrenry to the point where I regularly have to steal chairs from other rooms to accommodate them all. I was like, "Oh fuck, seriously, MORE!?" and then my boss told everyone to be nice to them and I said that I would probably make them cry because overcrowding pisses me off. Then two girls shyly picked their way into the room (after boss-lady had rammed their seats into two non-spots at the corners of the table).

The new girls were dressed the same and looked the same; they were twins. All week they wore identical clothes and I dubbed them Katie-Jenny and Jenny-Katie. They had to wear nametags to remember which one was Katie-Jenny and which was Jenny-Katie. When I accidentally made Jenny-Katie cry because she didn't do her homework, her sister glanced at her with a quivering lip and began weeping too. I can assure you that there is no more heart-wrenching, pitiable sight than two identical Korean twins crying because they didn't write their Word Bank 3 times.

You've maybe probably most-definitely noticed that the world works in the following way: when you've become aware of some new facet of life, such as a new word or phenomenon, you will see it everywhere around you for a little while. All week I've noticed Korean twins. Twin babies in twin prams going to Emart, twin boys eating squid with their grandfather under the subway station. And twins under the jurisdiction of their proud parents are always dressed the same in this country, without fail. As a twin you are part of a package deal, sharing experiences and a wardrobe with your sibling until you are driven by an insane lust for autonomy and independence to far corners of the world (or city). And did I mention that you don't get to choose your own clothes?

Oddly enough, couples often dress in the same manner. You'll see a boy and a girl with matching jeans and striped shirts, and then another high school couple in army shorts and identical Ask Enquired tops (often in the same size, no joke). To me this seems like somewhat of a hideous prospect, voluntarily eschewing your personal selfdom in order to become part of some kind of exclusive Hey Everyone, We're Fucking!! club, but it's a really popular trend here.

Me and Mike once asked Sun-hi about this madness. She said that many couples have at least two or three matching sets of clothes, and that she herself had participated in this guilty synergy in the past. But she couldn't explain WHY, which is certainly the most important question. Does the girl think it's cute and strong-arm her man into acquiescing? Maybe the guy sees it as a form of possession: hey man, back off, we're clearly together because we're wearing the same fucking outfit. This shit doesn't happen by accident, y'feel?

Whatever the surface reason, matching couples are obviously an outward expression of a need to belong. Just like twins are made to exhibit their rare connection with parallel overalls, lovers choose to very plainly show the world a certain depth of commitment with their linked appearance. Korea is an extremely image-centric country, so I guess it shouldn't be surprising that public image serves as a useful vehicle for declaring codependency.

But you gotta wonder, what happens to the outfits when hearts snap and the two pieces flutter to the floor and have to pick themselves up as individual entities once more? Do the matching clothes get burnt when a couple breaks up? Buried in a landfill? When Koreans sever a relationship they usually really sever it, avoiding any and all contact with the ex and generally pretending the whole messy affair never happened. "Let's just be friends" is an unacceptable prospect. So it would be pretty fucked to hit the streets one day, regrettably catch sight of your former lover and, even more regrettably, still be wearing matching BLACK MUSIC CLUB shirts. In canary yellow.

A few times I have seen two people pass each other on the street, suddenly realize they are wearing the same clothes and do a huge double-take. I watch their faces and can only imagine what they're thinking: "Did I just miss meeting my soulmate?" They probably go home and seriously re-evaluate. It's even funnier if two guys are wearing identical outfits, or if someone passes a couple and all three are wearing the same thing: "What, am I gay now?" or "Did I just miss having a threesome?" Back home the reaction would be quite different. "That bitch shops at The GAP."

Sometimes I see kids on the street run into similarly attired counterparts and wonder if they think they've just met their long-lost twin. Then they each laugh, because they know they're the one that Oma and Apa really love and this other poor bastard got sent to another family for being second-best.

Update: Photographic evidence, thoughtfully provided by Mr. Mike!

[Korea] [twins] [matching clothes] [identical couples]

Posted by Chris at 06:02 AM >> Commentations (3)