Too Ugly Even For Elly

I have often wondered if there was a fashion faux pas so heinous that it could surpass the bad taste limits of Elly Patterson’s fashion sense. In today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse, we see that limit. Moreover, the Yahoo colourist did a fine job of using the colours Elly describes, so we can get an even better feeling for how awful John looks. The best part is that the Yahoo colourist also did a purple / red colour combination on Elly’s clothing to make her look more than a little hypocritical for criticizing John’s choice of clothing. The fashion criticism and especially the “AAACK” put this strip easily into the “Cathy rip-off” category so common in the first few years of the strip.

From a long-term perspective, we know that in the 30 years of the strip to come, Elly will far surpass John’s outfit today in terms of some of the awful and frumpy outfits she will eventually wear, particularly in the years after she goes to the permanent bun in her hair. Elly’s concern for what other people will think is out-of-character for her modern self. Normally this is not anything that bothers the woman who regularly shrieks and screams at her husband, kids and animals in public forums. Ironically, Thérèse Caine will eventually be criticized for doing exactly the same thing Elly is doing here.