I never have to tell my wife how to dress, she’s usually pretty good, but if I had to I know I have a ton of control over how she dressed. Even her hair.
Unless it is an important event even if I don’t like something I won’t say because then I’ll have to deal with her being angry. Not at me for saying I didn’t like it but angry at the world sort of thing.
She has full control over how I dress if we’re going somewhere. If I’m just running to the store and somewhere not important as long as I won’t get arrested for indecency I’m good. If it’s to church or a job interview or something I’ll ask her to pick my clothes. Life is easier that way.
I just went to Macy’s yesterday to buy shirts and ties for him.
I’m trying to bring color to his wardrobe and it’s working. A couple months ago I got him a really fantastic pink tie (a pale pink with a thin cream, chocolate, and light blue criss cross; it’s so great) and he actually WEARS IT. It beats the hell out of the closet full of primary colors and various shades of black.
He’s been really open to it, though. I would never “make” him wear anything.
I work in IT. No woman likes the way her IT-employed husband dresses, but my wife generally holds her tongue. I make a certain effort to be color-coordinated, and I just keep it simple, so she can live with it. But she’s not thrilled about it. Occasionally, while we’re out, we’ll pass a store and she’ll say, “You know, you can go in there and get a couple of shirts. It really is legal to do so.” This always stuns me. Buying new shirts? Why would I do that? But in we go, I pick out two that I like and she’s happy. She dresses well. She’s French. I’m really letting down the side.
The only time I’ve ever attempted giving fashion advice, it was to ask my then-girlfriend to kindly not wear “prom hair” (those ridiculously overcomplicated hairdos that are ubiquitous at any formal event…you know, promhair) to the function we were attending, as spending three hours and $250 to look as though a rabid wolverine attacked your head has always struck me as somewhat nonsensical, especially given that those hairstyles seem to have a half-life of about forty-five minutes.
That ended about as well as you might expect.
Beyond that, I don’t say anything about how my SO dresses, largely because I don’t care. If we’ve been dating a while and I genuinely like her, I will allow her to mold me to her whims (up to a point…more than $35 for a shirt, or more than a comb for the hairstyle, and the conversation is over), again largely because I don’t care, and she’s the one who has to look at me.
It was a dark day when Mr. Sali was told he had to give up his lifelong uniform of 501’s and a dress shirt in favor of something a bit dressier, to wear at work. He HATES to shop. HATES it. We made a trip to the mall, of course, and he just tried on stuff, willy-nilly, unsure of what was “dressier”, and it was boring, and it took hours. It became my dreary task in life to go out shopping for him, and I would lug home armfuls of clothes he would try on. Find fault with. Didn’t fit right. Lug them back to the store, try another store. Repeat. In desperation I waylaid one of his office friends and asked where he shopped. “LL Bean, dude. Or Lands End.” So I got a catalog and other than a brief couple of trips to the post office for exchanges for size or color, we are now all set for his clothing needs. Lands End - a lifetime supply of tan pants and light blue dress shirts available for the well-dressed office drone!
Suburban Plankton wears what he wants most of the time. He’s in IT and it’s usually jeans or khakis and a Hawaiian print- or bowling-style shirt. Maybe the odd polo shirt thrown it. It’s fine, he wears it well.
Sometimes, if we’re going out, I will suggest he wear something different and he generally does.
The only time he makes comments about what I’m wearing is to say that he likes something and I should wear it more often.
My hubby wears a uniform at work which consists of a Dickies blue mechanic’s shirt (with his name and department on it) and Dickies blue jeans. He has been wearing that for almost 30 years at his job. He is so comfortable in this outfit that it’s also what he wears while working around home (a blue Dickies shirt and jeans). His daily shoe wear is a pair of Red Wings work boots.
He has about 3 pairs of dress shirts and 2 pairs of dress pants. If he has to go to a special event he will ask my help in choosing what to wear, but it isn’t very difficult since he has such a small selection.
He also has 1 pair of jean shorts, a few T-shirts and a pair of tennis shoes. He only wears that stuff around the house, hardly ever in public.
He has one pair of dress shoes. Usually he will try to get away with wearing his nicest boots.
She (not surprisingly) is a better dresser than I am; she has veto power if I’ve put on color combinations that just-don’t-go (which I do from time to time, frankly I have no sense of this and rely on rote memorization of what not to do) and veto power (rarely exercised) over what I buy. I’ll offer my opinion if asked (well, cajoled), but she usually gets & wears what she likes anyway.
I buy most of Mig’s clothes. He’s picky so I try to get what he likes or he simply won’t wear it. He loves those Ed Hardy style prints that I LOATHE but whatever makes him happy is fine with me.
He has more control over what I wear because he’s one of those old fashioned types. He doesn’t like me wearing shorts or going without a bra in public. I wouldn’t go without a bra anyway unless it’s an emergency situation, but when it comes to shorts we settled on me just wearing longer shorts. It’s ridiculous but he’s worth it.
I seldom notice or care what my wife is wearing and would never presume to try to tell her what to wear. None of my business.
I wear almost nothing but jeans and T-shirts. Occasionally my wife might ask me to “put on something clean” if we’re going out, but neither of us has ever wasted any thought or energy on fashion, or feels any need to dictate what the other should wear. If I ever tried to tell my wife what to wear, she’d tell me to fuck off, and rightfully so.
I have absolutely no say in how my spouse dresses. Nor, come to think of it, did I have any back when Maude and ODAAT were first on.
What I do have is a better sense of what colors look good on my wife. Occasionally while shopping, she will ask my advice about the blue one or the green one, the pastel or the jewel color, etc.
If my SO had any opinions, I’d comply but he never says anything about what I wear. He dresses like an office drone all the time, and is willing to dress up when we go out.
The only conversation we’ve ever had about my wife’s clothes was when I tried to convince her that it actually made financial sense to buy clothes that were a step or two higher than the cheapest, lowest-quality stuff out there that she usually wears. It was the closest we’ve ever come to a real argument, and it was me telling her to spend more on her clothes, and her refusing. Kind of a surreal conversation.
Her influence on my clothes extends to occasionally making me throw away a shirt that I’ve owned since high school, is heavily stained, and hasn’t been worn in six years. She doesn’t try it very often, though, because it’s STILL A PERFECTLY GOOD SHIRT I COULD WEAR SOME DAY!
