Court Clothing: Coincidence and Conspiracy

There is a hearing happening right now in New York between Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, and their respective legal teams. Magistrate Judge Sarah L Cave is presiding over discussions in an attempt to get the two to begin settlement discussions and avoid going to trial, currently set to begin in May. The settlement conference is supposed to be closed door, no media or public allowed. Will be interesting to see how soon – or not – details about what goes down in that conference room are leaked.

For now, let’s talk about their appearance and any lawyer will tell you that appearance matters in court, outfit choices matter, they are considered and discussed. There is no doubt that both Blake and Justin put a lot of thought into what they would wear today, and it was likely a decision by committee, involving their representatives. Adding to the chaos of what has already been a wild and chaotic and exhausting situation…

Blake and Justin showed up today in what looked like a couple’s outfit. If this were a C-drama or a K-drama (where couple’s outfits are standard in romcoms), the OTP would be wearing exactly these clothes. The colour theme is the same, olive green for both, perhaps meant to symbolise a spirit of peace. Both of them also accented with pink/blush, associated with innocence, kindness, and of course femininity. An obvious choice for Blake and, for Justin too since his whole brand before this scandal erupted is that he’s an ally to women.

A coincidence, then, that these two dressed the same. Obviously there’s no way they would have coordinated their fits. But also a bit of a conspiracy in that their advisors, consultants, whoever would have bee strategising with them on their looks were clearly on the same page, perhaps even working from the same playbook.

When the legal opponents turn up in virtually the same outfits, does that cancel out the effectiveness of said outfits? No one is more “pro-peace and pro-woman” than the other. In the fashion battle, I guess it’s a tie.