I normally ask my wife, before I decide to make a change in what I decide to wear…like does this shirt go with these pants, or what do you think of these shoes. She’s very up to date on trends and has a good fashion eye. So I trust her judgment.
But I swear, there have to be a lot of people out there that have no one to ask, or the people they ask have no clue. And this holds true for women and men.
For women, the most common mistake I see is wearing white shoes with dark hose or tights. Please, if you do this, just stop.
For men, when wearing a button-up shirt under a sweater, don’t put your shirt collar points outside of the sweater collar. Nothing says 1979, better than that.
I saw both of these examples in our office this morning.
If the full-length mirror doesn’t give me an answer, I ask my mum (she was a model and still reads Vogue).
I also ask a couple of the younger women in my office about interpreting trends. Because how cuffed booties were worn in 1987 may not be the same as 2014.
I agree that white shoes and dark hose are bad. Can I add my annoyance – “nude” pumps need to match your skin tone. If you’re pale, you wear light ones. If you’re tan, you wear darker ones. They should blend into your skin tone so your leg looks longer. A dark-skinned woman wearing light “nude” pumps looks like she is back in the 80s.
I usually shop by myself and I often will ask other people in the store if something looks ok on me!
If I have my mom I defer to her. She’s no fashionista but she is pretty good at knowing when something looks stupid.
I had to take my mom with me to buy new glasses last week. Not so much because she has better style than me but because I can’t see w/o my glasses on so I couldn’t see what I looked like in different frames! The new glasses came in today, I hope they look ok
I have no idea how to dress myself, so if I have to buy new clothing I’ll take a picture of an outfit I put together and text Ms. Cups and ask “is this ok?”
So the short answer is yes I do, otherwise lord knows what I’d walk out of the house in
My everyday wear is pretty casual…jeans, khakis, simple tops…so I don’t feel like I need to ask anyone. As long as my clothes are clean and in good repair and keep me from being naked, they’re doing their job and I’m casually presentable. If someone would save me the nightmare of shopping (I hate it), I could probably be pretty cute!
I do have to ask my sister and my friends about haircuts, though. Names of cuts and styles and such are a bafflement to me.
I often ask shop assistants what they think about possible choices. I don’t think I have ever been complimented on anything I chose myself but have often received comments on things chosen by unknown women in stores.
Right after I got married my wife went thru my closet and thru out anything she deemed tacky, ugly, wrong size, or just plain bad. Sing then she has had veto power over any clothing item I am to wear.
But then, I will admit to being totally clueless on the way to look or dress. She definitely saw me as a “fixer-upper”.
Longer Answer: I don’t make anything Id ever label a “fashion choice” anyway. I’ve developed a sense of personal style that seems to look good on me (based on volunteered input) and I’m comfortable with. Every now and then it might share some aspects with something that’s trendy (the stopped clock being right twice a day effect). While there’s aspects of having to care what others think about my clothing choices for other reasons, when those reason don’t apply I’m also pretty good about not caring.
This is the Office. We don’t Want to make good fashion choices. There isn’t ANYONE there we want paying attention to us besides to think “that person works Really hard” and “Oh, its payday again. Where are those checks to sign?”
“I fixed the coffee machine; fresh pot ready in five” should be the most attractive that anyone finds me.
I’ve never said anything but I’ve often wondered why so many women wear bras that are clearly too small for them.
It doesn’t look attractive, especially if you’re wearing a tight shirt.
That said, I don’t judge too harshly because I don’t know what it’s like to have lady lady bits up their so maybe their motivations are for things other than fashion that I’m not aware of.
I dress comfortably, having disposed of my suits/ties/etc. Every so often my gf will suggest swapping the shirt I have on for another, and I do it to please her, even though I usually don’t really understand why.
I’d maybe ask for someone’s opinion or go along with their unasked-for-but-given-anyway opinion if they were standing right there, but mostly to humor them. I can tell what looks good, but care more about comfort and practicality than fashion.
I don’t get why it would be a “mistake” to wear a particular neutral color of shoes or a particular shoe/stocking combination. I would think what you describe was ugly and probably unflattering, but I’d just assume that was my personal taste. A lot of fashionable things look hideous to me and as soon as a trend is over, most people seem to agree that it’s awful.
My goal when dressing is generally to wear clothing as comfortable as possible while still managing to escape negative attention for dressing “too casually.” Asking other people’s opinions would only invite the scrutiny I hope to avoid and they’d possibly try to insist I wear painful pinchy shoes, which is not happening.
Yup, I’m always asking my sister for advice on whether something looks good on me and/or whether various combinations of clothes look OK together. I’m finally starting to be mostly able to do this on my own, but I still lack some self-confidence in this area.
Occasionally I will ask a saleswoman in a clothing store for various pieces of advice, and have benefited sometimes, although I always take it with a huge grain of salt if the answer involves “yes, definitely buy that!”
If the wife and I are going out somewhere a little more special than normal I’ll ask her opinion on what I should wear so we don’t clash. Beyond that, absolutely not. At work it’s business casual, I am perfectly capable of matching a polo or button down shirt with a pair of khakis. Otherwise, clothes are to cover the naughty bits and help regulate body temperature. Anything more is just someone selling you something.
I’m a really conservative dresser by nature. I’m fine with what colors go together, but don’t quite know what to do with patterns. I limit my patterns to polka dots and an occasional vertical stripe. I haven’t purchased anything remotely trendy since my 20s, so little of what I have ever goes in or out of style. It just is. lol
I do try to keep my hair, makeup and accessories (handbags, shoes) up to date as those things can really date you if you don’t get them right.
