One topic I see so often but don’t hear a lot about is the dilemma on whether we should dress our partners or not. Sometimes our partners may naturally adapt to how we dress or ask for our help, but, where does the line manifest when—or if— we should intervene? 

It’s easy for our partners to want to match our style or simply impress us with a new style, so if they are consciously altering their wardrobe, take it as a sign this is a wanted change. It’s also one thing to go thrifting and see an article of clothing you think your partner would look cute in, but it’s another to completely refill their closet to your liking, even if it’s not their style.

Remember, you always want your partner to feel confident and accepted for who they are. Also, if you’re the one who feels like you need to change your style or that your partner wants you to dress differently to best match them, make sure you don’t allow yourself to fall into the trap of completely losing yourself. 

Some people think it’s superficial to care about what your partner wears, but others openly try to alter their partners’ style. The dilemma lies in if we should consider a partner with a differing style to our own to be a dating dealbreaker—should we consider ending the relationship on style alone? 

Fashion can actually say a lot about people’s personalities, interests, beliefs and lifestyles. It’s important to keep in mind that if your styles are completely different, it is likely your hobbies and interests are different too. Fashion can be a good indicator of compatibility to an extent– it doesn’t always have to be seen as “superficial,” but it certainly shouldn’t be the only factor determining relationship compatibility. 

There is much physiological evidence to back why exactly we want to—or just fall into—the natural habit of dressing our partners. Lots of times, we gravitate towards someone’s style because it’s familiar to us and brings us comfortability. So, it makes sense that if we didn’t gravitate or connect with a partner’s style that we may want to change it to bring that feeling. 

Other times, people will dress their partners certain ways if they aren’t feeling fully into the relationship. Almost as a way to create some sort of bond or similarity between both partners and compensate for something that isn’t quite there. 

So the question remains, should we dress our partners? I think yes—to an extent.  It is totally fine to pick out certain items you like for your partner to wear or to help style them when they ask for it. However, when we want to change their entire closet to look more like ours or alter their style completely, that’s when it’s unfair to the relationship.

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Hi! I’m Kayla Friedman, A Magazine’s editor-in-chief. My staff and I are committed to bringing you the most important and entertaining news from the realms of fashion, beauty and culture. We are full-time students and hard-working journalists. While we get support from the student media fee and earned revenue such as advertising, both of those continue to decline. Your generous gift of any amount will help enhance our student experience as we grow into working professionals. Please go here to donate to A Magazine.