Guys, Please Start to Dress Up for Dates
Sloppy is not sexy and it screams lack of effort
I remember quite a few conversations between my parents when I was a kid, that were about what my dad should be wearing. Sometimes it was blunt. Definitely not that one, darling. You are not serious about that green sweater for the theater, are you? Sometimes it was subtler. I am ironing your white shirt right away. I’m wearing the black dress, which jacket should I get for you?
My dad understood the assignment. As he knew he would usually make bad decisions about his outfit — read he would be massively underdressed compared to my mum — he prevented the issue by turning to my mum for advice. It worked, they did not argue about this ever. And they were always dressed up at the same level.
In my eyes, he was always well dressed, having carefully chosen pieces for every occasion. I understood that it was my mum’s doing and I never knew whether it was his lack of affinity, lack of interest or just a longing for comfortable clothes even on special occasions. But my dad made an effort, asked for help and thus avoided conflict and potential embarrassment. I never understood the level of effort he made until I started to go on dates — with men who were consistently underdressed compared to me.
