Street Style in Sync: The Best Matching Looks of Summer

Best fashion trend: matching and patterned sets

Matching and patterned sets are ideal for a put-together look that takes little to no effort to plan, and you can mix pieces to expand your outfit options.

Readers pick: Claw clips

After about a year and a half of quarantining, online instruction and postponed in-person events, the fashion industry’s outlook on spring 2022 fashion has circulated around one underlying mindset: if we’re finally going out, we’re going to look bright and bold doing it.

This trend takes the win for our fashion category for its convenience, vintage inspiration and potential for variation. While trends like knitwear and claw clips have definitely gained popularity in recent months, they don’t present as many fashion possibilities as matching and patterned sets.

Spring 2022 fashion will be full of eye-catching bold patterns and color palettes. And unique to this trend, you also won’t have to sacrifice convenience and comfort to achieve eccentric style. That’s why the resurgence of patterned and matching sets have made its way to the front of fashion shows like Versace and Maison Margiela and onto the streets of New York and D.C.

Matching and patterned sets are ideal for a put-together look that takes little to no effort to plan. Items are not limited to one outfit, as you can mix tops and bottoms with other items of clothing while still looking chic and trendy this spring.

Get ready to rock matching gingham or checkered crop tops and oversized pants sets and see bright color palettes reminiscent of Jennifer Garner’s famous “13 Going on 30” dress this spring. Colors like grass green, soft lilac and canary yellow, which have found their way onto the backs of celebrities like Ariana Grande and Anne Hathaway, are popping up everywhere in D.C. stores stocking for the season.

Most recently, rapper and actor Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, and actor David Oyelowo wore bright yellow-green suit sets to the 2022 Oscars while actress Zendaya wore a matching suit set to an Oscars after party.

Patterned sets have event found their way into the White House. Singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo wore a pink plaid Chanel skirt suit set to the White House last year after she was invited to serve as a celebrity ambassador to encourage teenagers to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Matching and patterned skirt suits or pantsuits are a chic way to look stylish in both professional and casual settings, since this trend can be dressed up or down. As matching sets make their way onto the spring 2022 runway, they’ll soon make their way into your closet hopefully awaiting that coveted Hillternship debut.

This article appeared in the April 11, 2022 issue of the Hatchet.

Kim Kardashian and Julia Fox’s many matching fashion moments

Kanye West clearly has a type.

The rapper and fashion force famously overhauled ex Kim Kardashian’s wardrobe when the duo started dating in 2012, tossing her bandage dresses and bulky designer totes to make way for the sleek, monochromatic styles that still define her look to this day.

And after West began seeing Julia Fox in early January 2022, the “Uncut Gems” actress got a makeover of her own, with her beau treating her to racks of Diesel duds and whisking her off to Paris Fashion Week.

“Kanye’s doing with Julia what he did to Kim,” a Kardashian source told Page Six shortly after the pair coupled up. “He’s controlling what she wore — making sure she appears as the set image that he has in his mind.”

A self-proclaimed “die-hard, OG” fan of the Kardashians, Julia Fox seems to have been taking cues from Kim K’s closet for years. Getty Images; Instagram

But in fact, 44-year-old West didn’t have to work much at all to transform Fox, 31, into the woman of his dreams. A self-proclaimed “die-hard, OG” fan of the Kardashians, Fox seems to have been taking cues from the Skims founder’s closet for years; the two bodacious brunettes have even stepped out separately wearing the exact same outfit on several occasions.

Below, all the twinning moments that prove that while Fox and West may have been “kindred spirits,” she and Kardashian are style twins.

Sparkling skirts

Getty Images; WireImage

Kardashian, 41, paired a black latex Atsuko Kudo bustier with a sheer, shimmering Ralph & Russo Couture skirt for the 2014 GQ Men of the Year Awards with West. While Fox might’ve opted for different designers at the Toronto Film Festival premiere of “Uncut Gems” in 2019 — Paco Rabanne, to be precise — there’s no denying the similarities between their styles.

Curve-hugging catsuits

Instagram; Getty Images

The KKW Fragrance founder took Alexander Wang’s lacy black onesie for a spin in January 2019; that December, Fox picked the same sexy, skirted style for the GQ Men of the Year Awards.

Vintage Versace

Getty Images

Any real style star knows you haven’t made it until you’ve got access to top designers’ archives. Kardashian and Fox both appear to be fans of vintage Versace in particular, having picked likeminded black gowns with plunging necklines and slit skirts for the 2019 amfAR Gala New York and a 2020 Golden Globes afterparty, respectively.

Max Mara monochrome

GC Images; Getty Images

In 2014, Kardashian’s uniform became a Max Mara coat layered over a matching body-con dress. Fox went for the same fashion formula at the 2020 Whitney Art Party, choosing a look from the brand in bright, eye-catching blue.

Sheer Skims

Instagram

Long before linking up with West, Fox stripped down to her Skims to promote the brand’s Summer Mesh collection in 2020.

Gaultier stripes

Getty Images

Getting dizzy? Considering that both Kardashian and Fox have rocked Jean Paul Gaultier’s “body morphing” frock on the red carpet — the former at the 2018 People’s Choice Awards, the latter at a 2021 Christian Louboutin party — we couldn’t blame you.

Leather looks

Instagram; Splash News

Remember when West emailed Kardashian instructing her to ditch her oversized shades in 2018? It seems KKW’s still all about tiny sunglasses — and so is Fox. Two months after Kardashian posed on Instagram in a glossy leather Balenciaga look accessorized with narrow frames in November 2021, the actress had a “Matrix” moment of her own.

Balenciaga boots

GC Images

You can’t hang with West without wearing Balenciaga, the Grammy winner’s luxury label of choice. And Fox took things a literal step further during Paris Fashion Week in January 2022, slipping into the very same pair of thigh-high silver boots Kardashian’s been snapped in since 2016.

Itty-bitty bags

GC Images; Backgrid

During her first NYC date night with West, Fox toted a pint-sized version of Balenciaga’s “Hourglass” bag — the very same purse Kardashian owns in a handful of colors and carries on a near-daily basis. Coincidence? We think not.

Not-so-mellow yellow

Getty Images; Backgrid

Fox may have broken up with West in February 2022, but she and Kardashian are still simpatico from a style perspective. The two fashion stars stepped out strikingly similar yellow-and-black looks on the same day (Feb. 23) during Milan Fashion Week — Fox’s from Diesel, Kardashian’s by Prada.

Street Style in Sync: The Best Matching Looks of Summer

Good things come in twos—or threes, or fours. This is especially true when it comes to street style. Some of the freshest looks of the summer are coming as twofers (or more), with duos in dynamic dresses, couples in complementary colors, and squads in similar silhouettes. Across the shows of summer, these are the best BFF looks.

Dynamic Duos