A co-worker was wearing a very artsy-looking blazer for which she was getting rave compliments. It was colorful and bold with geometric patterns. It suited her. When a colleague gave her a compliment, she responded, “Thank you. It’s from Chico’s, which is like garanimals for adults.”

Garanimals - remember those? The mix and match clothing for babies and toddlers where “five tops and five bottoms provide outfits for a month.” The concept was to provide a way to purchase fairly inexpensive separates that would pair with each other to create a whole new wardrobe that would perfectly coordinate. Each piece of clothing had a tag with an animal identifier. The idea was that the same animal on the tag of the top (like the yellow giraffe) would coordinate perfectly with the same yellow giraffe tag on the bottom. It was an easy way to teach young children how to match their tops to their bottoms - using fun animals as a guide.

It’s a great concept that somehow never translated to adult clothing. How many times have you looked in your closet trying to find the right blouse to go with that pencil skirt, a blazer that might look okay with your pants? It’s a lot of planning, trying on each outfit and examining how you look in that full-length mirror. Time that you might not have in the morning before dashing off.

Unless you buy tops and bottoms from the same manufacturer or store, there’s an issue with color too. You think you’re buying a navy-based, multi-colored blouse that will go with that navy skirt only to get it home and find out that the navy design in the blouse looks black against the skirt. And reds? So many different shades.

Wouldn’t it be nice to simply have a tag on each item? Instead of a cute animal, it could have on it fruits and vegetables or different flowers? The blouses with a sunflower on the tag could pair nicely with skirts that have the same sunflower on their tags. It certainly would save time and energy - and eliminate the need to ask the questions, do these go together?

Until garanimals for adults catches on, I’ll stick to dresses - my “go-to.” No matching involved. Just slip it on and off you go. No sunflower tags necessary.