Fact: most women are born shoppers. Most men, however, do not possess that talent. This can, at times, be the cause of all-out blowouts between the sexes. And that is the very lesson my friend learned recently when she tried to take her new boyfriend shopping to update his wardrobe.
A differing opinion on whether men should wear pleated or unpleated pants, which started with her tossing several unpleated pairs at him in a change room, and him rejecting each one, led to their first argument. They left the store pantless and unwilling to talk to each other for the rest of the afternoon.
But arguments like these are not all that uncommon, and image consultant Daniel Ewing of Epic Images (www.epicimage.ca) says this is, in part, because it’s hard not to take it personally.
“It’s a lot more harsh if it’s your girlfriend (telling you she doesn’t like the way you dress),” says Ewing.
In other words, ladies, if you’re trying to put your man into a better fitting pair of pants, he might be worried that’s not the only thing you’d like him to change. And if it’s not, it might be time to move on before racking up his credit card in a desperate attempt to make him look like the next GQ cover model in order to keep the relationship alive.
However, if it’s just a simple wardrobe update, Ewing recommends discussing it with him first.
“Don’t take him out and all of a sudden start throwing clothes on him,” says Ewing. “Get him bought into that idea (of clothes shopping) right off the bat because then it will be less of a fight.”
The difficulty for those of us women with a penchant for shopping is trying not to inflict too much of our own style on our guy as we try to help him figure out the difference between plaid and argyle. To avoid this pitfall, Ewing suggests dressing somebody appropriately for their body type.
“Depending on how this person is proportioned, certain kinds of cuts, fabrics, and waists are going to work,” says Ewing. “Think in that respect: what works with his body, his colouring.”
