Late last month, 17-year-old Anthony Gargiula tweeted pictures of his grandparents in carefully coordinated outfits, accompanied by a matter-of-fact caption: "My grandparents have been married for 52 years and they match outfits every day." That tweet has since earned more than 83,000 favorites and 40,000-plus retweets, and catapulted Ed and Fran Gargiula into the spotlight for their desire to match their attire.
"I never expected a tweet of my grandparents to go viral," Anthony told CNN, noting he gets text messages every morning from Ed, 76, and Fran, 74, showing a "preview" of their ensemble for the day: He says his favorite outfit of all time was a "bumblebee" getup where they wore opposing yellow and black shirts and pants.
Rich Gargiula, the Florida couple's son, adds, "Everybody looks forward to what they're going to wear."
The Gargiulas, who used to be elementary teachers on Long Island in their pre-retirement days, met as 20-somethings at a teachers conference and realized they were a match (of the non-clothing variety) right from the start, per People. But about 20 years ago, when they took up country dancing as a hobby, they noticed other couples showed up to two-step in coordinating outfits — and so the Gargiulas ended up taking it a step further.
"It just became a habit," Ed says, adding that now they're so known for their paired wardrobes, "if we didn't match people would say, 'Oh my God!'" But their costume choices aren't just about the clothes — they're a representation of their relationship. "We match deep down, too," Ed says.
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