<p>My 15 y.o. son is way into his appearance; a “suburban ghetto” thing. Costs lots of money and he is willing to spend much of his own. He does his own laundry and “sorts” after one mishap. He doesn’t like “lint”, or when his blacks aren’t black. He won’t iron, but he runs them through the dryer every AM to get rid of wrinkles. He even has casual “shoes”, basketball, indoor and outdoor soccer; all cost more than mine. Hair just “so” ( “waves” if you are familiar), matching body spray, body wash, and deoderant (“axe”). Is this a phase? His sister is strictly “old navy” and wrinkles are not a problem. If she would just take them out of the dryer and lay them flat…glad to hear this is ok in college.</p>
<p>Khakis and a polo shirt are my S’s idea of dressing up! Otherwise, he wears cargo pants that zip off at the knee and T-shirts that he either gets for free at some event of that he buys because he likes the message. The cargo pants and the khakis are bought by me, of course.</p>
<p>He went to an interview for a paid internship job a couple of months ago. I made him wear his Khaki pants and a shirt (borrowed from dad) and a tie (ditto) and a cashmere sweater (ditto) because he absolutely refused to wear a jacket (it has sat in his closet unworn since I bought it three years ago). He had his interview which went very well (will start work in a week) and came back saying he was overdressed and felt a bit ridiculous. Everyone in the company wore jeans and sneakers. </p>
<p>I may have lost the battle to get him to dress better. :(</p>
<p>EDIT: I looked at my closet after this. All my trousers are black. :)</p>
<p>Mine knows how to dress if necessary, but could care less about that stuff. Just stuff. Now GF has different ideas…</p>
<p>Reading this thread, I must ask – what is “good” fashion sense? Because what mostly everyone is describing here seems to be the standard!</p>
<p>OP–re: wrinkles–I think there are some brands of khakis that are supposed to ‘not wrinkle’ (or at least wrinkle very little)–maybe Dockers? Perhaps they make non-wrinkle shirts, too, then your son would be set.</p>
<p>My S appears to be some sort of mutant of the couldn’t-care-less-about-fashion male. He hates to shop, goes for the t-shirt and jeans look only. BUT he has done his own laundry since middle school and he IRONS. Ten times (maybe one hundred times) more often than I do. He has been seen to iron the wrinkles out of tee-shirts, which tee shirt might be faded into oblivion and even have a tear near the collar… but it is IRONED.</p>
<p>WashDad said to EK: “you are so not a man”</p>
<p>WashDad… it was a narrow thing, but I managed to swallow my oatmeal instead of spraying it all over my keyboard. Thank you for the moment of sheer amusement.</p>
<p>My son morphed, overnight, from a clean slob in shorts, Hawaiian shirts, and sandals, to suits, neat slacks, and dress shoes. It was a shock.</p>
<p>Wow! Ironing! Mine is great with putting them all in together, blacks, whites, reds and washing up the whole soup. Some form of folding and hanging…Enough for college classes. “Just a little rip, no problem,” says he.</p>
<p>It will be expensive to go from cacki cargo shorts and t-shirts to suits and loafers. At S’s interview, he noted that the males he went out to eat with wore overcoats (burberry?) rather than NorthFace fleece.</p>
<p>I wonder if there is a peer influence on boys in math/physics/CS rather than other fields?</p>
<p>Congrats to Marite’s S for internship!!</p>
<p>As I see it, one of the major benefits of formal dress codes at prep school is that the boys must learn to wear jacket and tie whether they like it or not. It then becomes a non-issue when dressing Grandma’s funeral and Cousin Lisa’s wedding!</p>
<p>The Boy has three everyday outfits and three formal ones:</p>
<ol>
<li>White cargo shorts, blue or green t-shirt (summer)</li>
<li>Jeans, blue or green t-shirt (fall and spring)</li>
<li>Jeans, blue, green, or gray long-sleeved shirt (winter)</li>
<li>Khakis and green button-down shirt (semi-formal, holidays with family, dinner out with me)</li>
<li>Black suit, white button-down shirt, tie (interviews, formal occasions)</li>
<li>Black tux (concerts)</li>
</ol>
<p>To his credit, he is even cleaner than I am – I don’t wash my shirt and pants after each individual use – but I tease him for owning five pairs of identical jeans and some shirts that he’s had since middle school. For his birthday, I am seriously considering buying him a shirt that isn’t blue or green.</p>
<p>Personally, I like skirts and dresses and cute sandals, am perpetually overdressed, keep a drying rack in my dorm room because I think the dryer wears out the fabric, and still iron everything even after a year in college.</p>
<p>Our son is very paricular about how his clothes fit.</p>
<p>The pants may be shredded and stained, but if they <em>fit</em> it’s all fine. The shirt is faded, worn, and maybe even has extra holes, but as long as it <em>fits</em> he’s good to go.</p>
<p>This <em>fit</em> is a very narrow range. As far as I can tell, the length for shorts and pants has to be correct to the nanometer. And the difference between shirts that <em>fit</em> and those that are too wide is about a quarter of an inch. And, of course, said son is difficult to fit, with his 6’3" self tipping the scales at less than 160 pounds. :D</p>