I didn’t mean to start a thread and abandon it. We were packing for a trip and my wife tried once again to foist a pair of lady jeans on me. For whatever reason she just hates Levi’s, no matter the color or style. I really think she hates how thick they are, which is what I like. They are all I really want to wear, and probably all I’m going to wear. For what it’s worth, 501 Levi’s seem to fit both skinny and fat people pretty well, which is unusual.
As I said, I do take my wife’s advice on some things. I threw out the faded jeans, and she recently told me pleated khakis are an abomination, so those too went in the garbage. So it’s not like I’m militantly setting out to look bad. To those who suggested I go “shopping” with my wife, the answer is NO, NO, NO. I get slightly dizzy and ill when I go to stores with her as she spends several minutes studying each and every item in the store. Of course, before any of this starts there has to be 20 minutes of driving around the parking lot to find a spot near the store entrance, because none of the 500 parking spaces 50 feet further back will do. Just NO.
My wife accuses me of having the same wardrobe now as I had in college, and for the most part she is correct: lots of white and blue-stripped shirts, khaki pants, a couple of blue blazers, some nice ties and shoes. In my old age I’ve added several decent suits, but I don’t have a variety of dress pants or blazers and don’t want them. She says I still wear my “college uniform.”
Yikes is right! I couldn’t begin to spend that much, not that there’s anything wrong with it if you have that kind of money. I’ve never spent that much on a piece of clothing in my life.
I happily embrace the shirts and ties and slacks that da’ wife and kids get me to refresh the wardrobe, but I draw the line on jeans. Levi’s 501 shrink-to-fit is all that I have been wearing since elementary school. I made that clear when we started dating. Levis 501’s were nonnegotiable.
I’ve never bought my son jeans that were not on sale. My male friend spends less than $50, and we get his no iron shirts at Costco. I do believe in dressing nicely for the special one in one’s life.
@bookworm I love the Costco all-cotton button-down dress shirts. They used to be $14.99 and I think they are now $17.99. Thirty-seven years ago when I was a college freshman I remember that a dress shirt cost more than $30. I think that’s why there is no longer a textile industry in the U.S.
EVD, yep, I agree. My male friend is easy to fit, my son is shorter and slim, so we do better with him at Nordstrums. It would make me happy to buy him a new grey suit and black shoes while he is home now, but I doubt he will agree. I also offered him dance lessons years ago, and his g/f suggested them last year. I’m with her. I’m all for pleasing a loved one in easy matters.
If real men were supposed to wear jeans there would be one kind. No traditional or boot cut or low waist or high waist. One kind. You’d go into the store and say 48" inch 6’3. End of story.
I get my jeans from LandsEnd because they will hem them for free. I have a couple different shades of blue, and let them fade until I wear holes in them.
I wear white NB sneakers… EEEE width, not many makers have that width. And I sometimes where polos, which I tuck in.
I “let” H buy his own clothes. Haha. He really does pick and choose his own stuff, with my input on occasion. I sometimes suggest that he looks like a farmer when we are going somewhere. I truly respect farmers and appreciate all that they do. But what they wear in the field isn’t always appropriate for my H to wear.
He only recently, two summers ago, got non-white sneakers because we were traveling to Spain and read that white sneakers will make you stand out.
He still wears Levis and cares about his looks, but doesn’t care about fashion. He bought a pair of Ralph Lauren jeans recently and feels like he has done his best.
So question?.. Men do not tuck their shirts in anymore? Or is it just not tucking in polo’s. Are polos out? Button down only? Not getting the whole bad thing about tucking in polos and wearing a belt.
But I like cargo pants, I can carry lots of stuff in all the pockets. No manpurse for me!
I don’t get the untucked shirt thing, but then my shirts look terrible when they are not tucked in, because I have to get them large enough for my 18 inch neck and 46 inch chest, and when the upper part is that big, they assume you have a 48 inch waist, which is not even close, so it’s like wearing a tent. “Athletic” or “slim” tailored shirts aren’t an option either because the armholes are always too tight.
Yes I am too cheap to pay for custom-tailored shirts. Won’t pay more than $30 for a pair of pants either.
For dressy casual tucking is a matter of region, age and build I think. There are also shirts that are just meant to be tucked. What is out in many circles is acres of fabric in pleats and billowy, classic fit shirts. Tucking a slimmer cut shirt looks good, but there are some combos of higher waisted, relaxed fit jeans with tucked shirts that are not as . . . fashion forward . . . as some people want.
For what it’s worth, though, last August when I was in a touristy southern city the men all seemed to be wearing khaki pants or shorts and tucked golf style polo shirts. I have never seen anyone wear something like that not on tv at the U.S. Open. It is obviously a thing in some places but people don’t dress like that in public where I live.
DH has taken to wearing a dressier jean for some dressy/casual evening events but draws the line at the ubiquitous “puffy jacket” which he feels is womanly.
Some company is making shirts with the intention of wearing them untucked. The tag line on the catalog referenced that. My son returned from his first day at his summer internship saying that his boss told him to lose the navy blazer. Son wore his button downs untucked over khakis the rest of the summer. While he had always worn shirts untucked over shorts, he had never worn them that way with pants. Not my battle to wage…
@saintfan – it is not only the southeast where that tucked in tennis shirt with khaki or colored shorts is worn, but that is generally the fathers, not the teens/college students, at least in my little corner of CT.
I tried to buy the Costco no-iron shirts but they didn’t stock 15.5 x 35, much to my dismay, b/c the price was amazing.
