Elderly couple’s secret to long-lasting marriage: matching outfits

Couples that dress together, stay together. At least that’s what has worked for Mel and Joey Schwanke, who have been wearing matching outfits every single day for the last three and a half decades.

The US couple attribute their quirky closet tradition as the key to their 64-year union.

“We don’t dare go out somewhere without having matching outfits,” Mel told KETV.

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The pair’s vast wardrobe contains 146 custom matching outfits, which they’ve been rotating for over 35 years.

Mel’s wife Joey, 81, is in charge of their style choices and lays out the both outfits each morning.

But they don’t always wear the exact same attire. Mel's tie, and often his jacket, is cut from the same cloth as Joey's dresses so she’s not confined to wearing unisex clothing. The outfits are usually floral in homage to their flower shop.

“Every day,” Mel said. “Every day, my tie matches her dress.”

It was somewhere around the 30 year mark that the couple went on vacation and decided their clothes should match. But the pair can’t quite remember what inspired the first matching outfit.

“It was before we travelled in '76, so let's see …” Joey told KETV.

“Oh goodness sakes, no, I don't remember how that first outfit came about,” Mel added.

The other secret to their long-lasting marriage is their clear division of power, they explained to KETV.

“We kind of decided early in the game that he would be boss from 8 to 5,” Joey said. “And I would be boss from 5 to 8 in the morning.”

Would your match your sartorial choices to your partner?