There’s a tacit assumption here about what men should be optimising for with their fashion choices. I don’t believe that men “not trying very hard” with their outfits is really the $20 bill on the ground it appears to be.
When I see a man dressed like the examples above, my first-glance judgments are somewhat unfavourable. To me they don’t read as smart/successful/trustworthy. Maybe they look “hot and interesting,” but for most men that isn’t and shouldn’t be especially high on the list of things to signal.
Reflecting on my own gut reactions, the outfits that most improve my first impression of other men are either professional attire or workout gear. I think this is less about aesthetics and more about what the outfit implies. I think part of why those kinds of outfits are better at impressing me involves there being pretext for why someone would wear them that isn’t “trying to look good”.
There’s also weird stuff going on where like—if I see two people on the bus, one in a poorly sized T-shirt and one in a nice collared shirt, I feel more positive about the person in the collared shirt. But if there’s additional context where I already know they’re both equally successful buisness owners, suddenly I like the guy in the T-shirt more.
Before contemplating textures and colors, the better starting question to ask yourself is “Who am I trying to impress, and to what end?”
There’s a tacit assumption here about what men should be optimising for with their fashion choices. I don’t believe that men “not trying very hard” with their outfits is really the $20 bill on the ground it appears to be.
When I see a man dressed like the examples above, my first-glance judgments are somewhat unfavourable. To me they don’t read as smart/successful/trustworthy. Maybe they look “hot and interesting,” but for most men that isn’t and shouldn’t be especially high on the list of things to signal.
Reflecting on my own gut reactions, the outfits that most improve my first impression of other men are either professional attire or workout gear. I think this is less about aesthetics and more about what the outfit implies. I think part of why those kinds of outfits are better at impressing me involves there being pretext for why someone would wear them that isn’t “trying to look good”.
There’s also weird stuff going on where like—if I see two people on the bus, one in a poorly sized T-shirt and one in a nice collared shirt, I feel more positive about the person in the collared shirt. But if there’s additional context where I already know they’re both equally successful buisness owners, suddenly I like the guy in the T-shirt more.
Before contemplating textures and colors, the better starting question to ask yourself is “Who am I trying to impress, and to what end?”