srobin

I thought I would take a survey.

Does anyone else have a soon to be senior or college student who does not take any interest in the way they dress? My DS has to wear Kakhi pants every day and a white or navy shirt so he does not have much choice. The problem is he does not care about how those clothes look as look as they are clean. He will go to school with wrinkled pants, shirt unless I iron them or throw them in the dryer for a while. He does the same with his other clothes it just really does not seem to bother him although it drives me crazy.

He said it doesn't matter at school and if he has an interview or when he goes to work professionally he will dress better. Do college freshman (guys) pay attention to what they wear or does no one really care if you show up for class with wrinkled clothes? He hates to go shopping and I have to force him to try on clothes when he does get new ones. I know some guy are just the opposite and will stand in front of the mirror for hours just trying to get the hair right but my guy is definitely not one of them.

Any suggestions on how to get them to spice it up just a little. He does not have a girlfriend right now or I would have hope that the GF could get him to
make more of an effort.

northeastmom

Mother of 2 sons here. They both hate shopping for clothes. One goes into the mall with friends to walk around and occasionally comes home with one thing to wear, but that is the exception rather than the rule. Neither stands in front of a mirror. I do need to tell them to wear a belt on occasion, or that they are dressed out of season, or that something is a bit wrinkled or has a stain. There is wrinkled, and then there is wrinkled. I think that they would both put on something slightly wrinkled, but not something that looks like it was slept in for a week! My older son will call me to ask if something matches, or what he can get away with wearing when he needs to dress up, ie: "Can I wear tan pants with black dress shoes?" He already knows the answer, but wants to ask before bothering to "hunt down" his brown shoes. Heck, I did not even put white shirts on my boys until they were in their midteens, except for dress, because they would definitely come home with stain on it (something like chocolate ice cream or marinara sauce), so in that sense your son grew up already a step ahead of mine!

mafool

Not unusual in the least, and he will fit right in with the rest of the college students who do look like they have slept in their clothes.

Remember Geranimals? They should make them for the 18-25 year old males. This shirt works with these pants. Interview time? OK, this tie will work with this shirt and this jacket.

IlikeDice

ok so say i wake up or an 8:45 class in college and find that all my clothes are wrinkled.

as a college student (boy or girl is irrelevant), will I:
a) go iron, because maybe someone will point it out and i'll be sooo embarrassed

or

b) not give a crap.

realistically speaking...

mom60

My colllege freshman doesn't even care if they are clean!

scout59

It's not just boys. My DD almost always wears jeans, Van's or Converse sneakers, and a tee-shirt from some obscure indie/electronica/hard core band (If you've heard of the group, she won't wear it.) Granted, the clothes are all clean and unwrinkled (and her hair is perfect).... but she's not big on clothing or shopping.

She did spend a lot of time looking for the perfect prom dress, but that was an anomaly - and she was turned off to more than one college because too many of the girls were carrying designer purses. Talk about fit!

churning

If my son goes shopping, he usually returns with a new baseball cap. That's about all for his style, adding to plain T's and jeans.

tli83

I would say that the fact that he is even wearing clothes that can get obviously wrinkled makes him smarter than the majority of guys I know. Most people come to classes in t-shirt/hoodie and jeans/shorts of varying degrees of cleanliness. The only time they will iron something is for a really smart occasion, and then they will have to ask an adult where the irons live.

soozievt

srobin....I don't have sons but it may be a guy thing with some guys. I do have a husband and he has a professional job and I can tell you that he could care less about wrinkles and about dressing nicely or making sure he doesn't look too shabby. He is 53 and not a senior in HS or in college. It may be a lost hope for your son.

srobin

I feel so much better now. I was starting to think I somehow failed clothes etiquite 101 in trying to teach my DS. I love the Garanimals thought.

cartera45

Being able to wear jeans will help - since they don't wrinkle like khakis. I doubt he'll wear khakis in college - maybe that is just my own "khaki hating" bias coming through though. It might take one of two "you're not wearing that are you" looks from a girl to plant the seed of change though.

katwkittens

3 sons, don't care what they wear. One at a service academy so his uniform is always sharp, has little to no civvies at home and none there. Oldest daughter is thrilled to wear scrubs everyday, and the exact same color and style everyday, even her undergarments are the same color...1 load of wash! Middle daughter is the only one who has fashion sense...but hates spending any of her money on clothes or shoes, so she opts for 50% off the clearance price at an outlet. Most of her "dress" and "work" shoes were from Zappos before they stopped price matching. Now she has some very, very nice shoes, none more than $10 a pair, again thanks to Zappos.

Middle son wears all his "free" clothing the university gives out. I took all his non-university wear home at fall break so his older bro would have some civvy clothes to wear when he is home on leave. Boys wear the same size tops and bottoms and same shoe size. They share, don't know what belongs to who and they REALLY don't care.

Needless to say our clothing budget is non-existent and laundry when all 5 are home is still pretty organized and simple. 2 oldest boys bought the family those energy-saving (front-load) washer and dryer, made a HUGE difference in the electric and water bills. HUGE.

Boys do own tuxs and suits they bought off ebay for formals, balls and interviews. For what they paid and how often they have been utilized it is now under $1 per use.

They care about the cost and return on investment, not how it looks.

Kat

jmmom

He is right in the swim of things. But be prepared that it might bo downhill from here - in your view, not his.

Someone said college students go to class in clothes that look like they slept in them. Well, they go to class in clothes that they did sleep in because they were designed for that. Sleep pants, anyone? DS doesn't wear those, but lots of his friends do. Roll out of bed, roll into class. Gives new meaning to "Come as you are."

srobin - I wonder if this is true of your S as it is of mine. He really does not care about fashion, doesn't like to shop or try on, wears clothes until they are totally worn out. But he is viciously concerned about some "fashion" issues - t-shirts must have school, musician or athletic logos; said logos must fit his limits as to size and prominence (can't be too big, can't be too prominent); some colors are out, out, OUT. Khaki cargo pants if 1/2" shorter or longer than he likes are similarly out, out, OUT. Absolutely no "designer" clothes - even the subtlest hint of A&F, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap even - no go.

He did go out at the end of last summer with a fashion forward male friend and come home with a hemp hoodie. I think it was more the green politics of the thing than fashion.

LongPrime

Not to worry. This look stayed with S through graduation(s). Sandals were the choice of footwear in Pittsburgh, Toronto, Oregon, and India. We'll see what will happen in a couple of months. Hobbit feet.

WashDad

Perfectly normal. As someone who has been working with software developers (a group that tends to look like perpetual college students) for my whole career, I'm just glad they remember to get dressed.