Matching Outfits (Duggars and Bates)

[BeccaGrim]

I was watching Netflix the other day as I unpacked moving boxes and I got to the episode where we first meet the Bates family. They come to stay with the Duggars. Their very close friends who they hadn't seen in seven years And they jump out of planes, etc (which was actually kind of hip for the Duggars!)

 

They went on the outing with Amy making fun of it the whole time and the Bates girls were all dressed in matching little girl outfits, even though a number of them were over 18. And they talked about it for a while, about all the girls, toddlers and up, liking to wear matching outfits.

 

I was sort of stunned. Here we are years later and Erin and Alyssa are both married. And Jill. And almost Jessa. And I'm staring at them. Granted they were younger. But are we to believe that Alyssa, who met her now husband when she was 16, attracted him in those outfits? And Erin with her pink master bedroom. I guess my statement/question is this, even for Fundie men, what is the appeal of this child brides dressed like dolls? Do they really want to go for the rest of their lives with women who know very little about the world? Jill has at least travelled and worked, sort of, as a midwife.

 

Anyone else have any thoughts? I mean the contrast between seeing them as married women and the dressed in matching outfits...

[weirdemmaline]

I'm sure some fundie men LOVE seeing women that could be their future wives (or even seeing their future wife or current wife) wearing weird, frumpy dresses styled for little girls because it's like... an innocence thing or a purity thing. Honestly I wouldn't put it past some of them to have some reeeeeally weird fucked up desires in the bedroom because of how they've been raised.

[Coconut Flan]

At 16 Alyssa wasn't still wearing the matching prairie dresses. They managed to ditch those not long after the episode or I've wondered were those made just for the episode. They do seem to dress alike or in matching colors for annual family photos also, but not day to day.

[alba]

I don't actually mind the matching colours for family photos as long as the clothes don't match; with that many people if they're all wearing different colours it can be a bit of a mess aesthetically. But there's a difference between Erin, Alyssa, Michael and Tori in the blog header (all wearing a black skirt and green or turquoise top) and the younger girls (all wearing almost identical dresses). I wouldn't see anything wrong with a family photo if all the girls were dressed like the older ones are.

[Swamptribe]

My theory, because in there circle, adult women dressing as little girls is cute, a sign of innocence and purity. The whole matching outfit is just a little too Borg collective, which is probably the point of it for them.

[DugFan]

And Erin with her pink master bedroom.

Nathan, "the preacher", used to be my least favorite Bates, followed closely by Erin. But as soon as I saw the pink bedroom, Erin took the lead. No woman who makes her husband sleep in a bedroom like that is mature enough to be married. (Although maybe David Waller would like it. :lol: )

[Swamptribe]

My theory, because in there circle, adult women dressing as little girls is cute, a sign of innocence and purity. The whole matching outfit is just a little too Borg collective, which is probably the point of it for them.

THEIR THEIR THEIR......I do know the difference, just wish I'd caught my typo while it could still be edited.....

[FloraDoraDolly]

In the episode where we "meet" the Bates family, Kelly says they only wore matching clothes when they all went on an outing. This was to keep the kids from getting lost. But she said that the little girls liked to match, so they would dress alike even when they didn't have to.

[BeccaGrim]

In the episode where we "meet" the Bates family, Kelly says they only wore matching clothes when they all went on an outing. This was to keep the kids from getting lost. But she said that the little girls liked to match, so they would dress alike even when they didn't have to.

This is true. But I must tell you when I was sixteen years old if my mom had told me we had to dress alike, I would have refused. Now, I know, they don't have that kind of power to say no.

[nastyhobbitses]

Nathan, "the preacher", used to be my least favorite Bates, followed closely by Erin. But as soon as I saw the pink bedroom, Erin took the lead. No woman who makes her husband sleep in a bedroom like that is mature enough to be married. (Although maybe David Waller would like it. :lol: )

For a while I thought it was oddly sweet (she'd never had a bedroom of her own her entire life, and now she has a whole room that she can decorate however she wants, and by gum, she's going to have the princess room she wanted and could never have), but then I realized: if that was the situation (she wants to have the bedroom she never had), number one, time to let go of that aesthetic, and number two, I'm sure there were far more tasteful ways to incorporate her childhood desires into her master bedroom without making it look better-suited to a four-year-old.

I suppose I was sympathetic at first because my grandma had a similar situation: when my grandparents moved to an assisted living apartment, my grandma got her own bedroom that she doesn't share with my grandpa (bad snoring, no libido anyway); she was the middle of 12 kids in a poor family and got married pretty young, so all her life (she was 90 at the time), she'd never had a room that was just hers. So when it came time for her to decorate it, she joked that she was going to have the fairy princess room she always wanted (actually, she decorated it very tastefully and age-appropriately in a seaside theme).

[Callipygian]

Sort of along the same lines of this, I'm glad that Josh and Anna no longer dress alike. Complementary dress as a couple is fine, but matching brown striped shirts was just a bit too much!

[DugFan]

For a while I thought it was oddly sweet (she'd never had a bedroom of her own her entire life, and now she has a whole room that she can decorate however she wants, and by gum, she's going to have the princess room she wanted and could never have), but then I realized: if that was the situation (she wants to have the bedroom she never had), number one, time to let go of that aesthetic, and number two, I'm sure there were far more tasteful ways to incorporate her childhood desires into her master bedroom without making it look better-suited to a four-year-old.

I suppose I was sympathetic at first because my grandma had a similar situation: when my grandparents moved to an assisted living apartment, my grandma got her own bedroom that she doesn't share with my grandpa (bad snoring, no libido anyway); she was the middle of 12 kids in a poor family and got married pretty young, so all her life (she was 90 at the time), she'd never had a room that was just hers. So when it came time for her to decorate it, she joked that she was going to have the fairy princess room she always wanted (actually, she decorated it very tastefully and age-appropriately in a seaside theme).

A) Your Grandma sounds awesome!

B) I think she proves my initial point perfectly. Most mature women don't subject their husbands to a "fairy princess room" no matter what their background. Even if you have to wait until your 90 and in your own room... the go for it sister! :clap:

[Mama Mia]

Nathan, "the preacher", used to be my least favorite Bates, followed closely by Erin. But as soon as I saw the pink bedroom, Erin took the lead. No woman who makes her husband sleep in a bedroom like that is mature enough to be married. (Although maybe David Waller would like it. :lol: )

I think we've had this discussion before, but there is no reason to think that her husband doesn't actually LIKE the room. Who knows, he might even PREFER a pink room, and, gasp, still be a completely heterosexual male. :angry-banghead:

[16strong]

Sort of along the same lines of this, I'm glad that Josh and Anna no longer dress alike. Complementary dress as a couple is fine, but matching brown striped shirts was just a bit too much!

Josh's DC colleagues would eat him alive if he showed up with his wife wearing matching polo shirts. He's already the laughingstock of the town. He doesn't need any help, so that's probably why they don't do the matchy-matchy thing anymore.

[16strong]

I think we've had this discussion before, but there is no reason to think that her husband doesn't actually LIKE the room. Who knows, he might even PREFER a pink room, and, gasp, still be a completely heterosexual male. :angry-banghead:

Yep. I dislike the notion that a person's taste in decor (or dress, for that matter) makes them...well, anything. I love loud colors and crazy hats, but I don't have a very flamboyant personality. An off-kilter sense of humor, maybe, but that's about it.

I think it's been discussed here that Erin never got to decorate a room of her own, and if that's what she's always wanted and Chad doesn't object, who's to ultimately care? (although I personally find pink and frills to be very obnoxious, but it's not my house)

[alba]

My estimation of Chad went up when I saw that bedroom and the way he talks about it. It pretty much boils down to, "I don't care and it makes her happy, so why not?" He seems to respect her in a way that I don't see a lot amongst fundie husbands.

[alba]

I think we've had this discussion before, but there is no reason to think that her husband doesn't actually LIKE the room. Who knows, he might even PREFER a pink room, and, gasp, still be a completely heterosexual male. :angry-banghead:

Someone commented on his blog about how he really must love Erin to have a pink bedroom, and this was his response:

I never thought I would have a pink bedroom one day...but I love our pink room! It's really bright, cheery, and romantic....just like Erin! <3<3 The pictures don't do it justice, but it makes it feel like a country cottage in a lot of ways. =) God bless!!

Edit: Just realised I already posted about this bedroom in my above post. But yeah, I might not like their taste, but I do think the bedroom is to their mutual approval.

[ILoveJellybeans]

That is adorable. Chad really adores Erin, and hopefully this will mean that he wont be the jerkass fundie husband that most of them are. I certainly cant see him forcing her into sex when she doesn't want to, or bossing her around like the others do, he genuinely likes her, and tries to make her happy and she makes him happy, instead of thinking of her as something to make him happy and not caring about her needs and wants. I hope if one day she becomes overwhelmed with the amount of children she has, he would suggest they stop having kids, and that if she wanted to do something with her life, he would support her instead of saying no because it would make her happy.

Its sad that men like that who do not think of their wives as sex dolls that can cook are so rare in the fundie world.

[BeccaGrim]

Josh's DC colleagues would eat him alive if he showed up with his wife wearing matching polo shirts. He's already the laughingstock of the town. He doesn't need any help, so that's probably why they don't do the matchy-matchy thing anymore.

Is he? I hadn't heard that.

[hollywood]

I love Chad. He is tied in first with Derick for the sweetest husband choice. In an interview I believe for Alyssa's wedding footage they showed the room and he said "it makes her happy and it isn't important to fight over" or something

[DuggarsTheEndIsNear]

For a while I thought it was oddly sweet (she'd never had a bedroom of her own her entire life, and now she has a whole room that she can decorate however she wants, and by gum, she's going to have the princess room she wanted and could never have), but then I realized: if that was the situation (she wants to have the bedroom she never had), number one, time to let go of that aesthetic, and number two, I'm sure there were far more tasteful ways to incorporate her childhood desires into her master bedroom without making it look better-suited to a four-year-old.

I suppose I was sympathetic at first because my grandma had a similar situation: when my grandparents moved to an assisted living apartment, my grandma got her own bedroom that she doesn't share with my grandpa (bad snoring, no libido anyway); she was the middle of 12 kids in a poor family and got married pretty young, so all her life (she was 90 at the time), she'd never had a room that was just hers. So when it came time for her to decorate it, she joked that she was going to have the fairy princess room she always wanted (actually, she decorated it very tastefully and age-appropriately in a seaside theme).

Honestly, I don't know if Erin would be exposed to anyone who could have ever taught her how to have "her childhood desires into her master bedroom without making it look better-suited to a four-year-old." It's not like anything in her parent's house took any amount of design prowess. And she never had the opportunity to experiment with designing spaces.

Also, it could have been something like she said "I would love to have pink in the bedroom" and someone else did the work. Then she could have felt bad not liking the walls, so she just went along with it. Or, maybe, she realized how stupid it was after the moved in together and she's either regretting int or has already changed it. Or, he wanted pink, too.

[Coco]

Erin will probably have a girl in a couple of years anyway, she could just be collecting girl nursery things in the meantime. :D One of the fun things about being a parent is reliving your childhood the way you wish it could have been. :clapping:

[nana sew dear]

I don't think the Bates family has always been as financially blessed as the Duggars. I recall Kelly saying that one of the girls adapted a pattern so that it would fit the different body sizes and that the girls enjoyed matching. I think perhaps the older girls were being very sweet to their little sisters. If the family had a business id number they could buy the fabric by the bolt wholesale. That would make more sense economically.

I recall also the Duggar girls making disparaging remarks as if they were the queens of fashion. :roll:

[Alye]

Honestly, I don't know if Erin would be exposed to anyone who could have ever taught her how to have "her childhood desires into her master bedroom without making it look better-suited to a four-year-old." It's not like anything in her parent's house took any amount of design prowess. And she never had the opportunity to experiment with designing spaces.

Also, it could have been something like she said "I would love to have pink in the bedroom" and someone else did the work. Then she could have felt bad not liking the walls, so she just went along with it. Or, maybe, she realized how stupid it was after the moved in together and she's either regretting int or has already changed it. Or, he wanted pink, too.

We have seen him in a pink t-shirt.

[Swamptribe]

I've been watching reruns of the Duggars in the afternoon. One of the reasons they all seem to dress, and just about do everything alike is because there isn't a creative or original thought in any of their heads. They just repeat what they see those around them doing.