Subtle Look Lasts
As a free-lance writer who spends considerable time working at home in sweats, I have noticed that, increasingly, my designer duds have been crowded out by Pure Sweat and Monsanto.
Yes, it is hard to believe that I was once a genuine trend-setter, but alas, I’ve turned into a fashion wimp, afraid to take the slightest wardrobe risk. My fashion statements have become questions: WHY is she wearing a flower-bedecked bra outside her clothing? WHY cotton-knit leggings with a tailored blazer? Think you’ve seen ugly? Not until you’ve feasted your eyes on a 55-year-old woman wearing the heavy metal look.
Equally frightening is the blind date who steams in on the “Saturday Night Fever” express. He is trapped in a time warp; no one has clued him in that shirts cut down to here and a chest festooned with chains went the way of mood rings. Even John Travolta changed his clothes when the cameras stopped rolling.
Sure, we laugh off the fads we once embraced in previous decades: Nehru jackets and love beads; the prairie look; the Annie Hall look; men’s wide lapels and bell-bottom trousers. But what will we be laughing at in the year 2000 and beyond?
New York’s latest rage among businessmen and Wall Street wizards--usually clad conservatively--are faux pony tails that attach to their tresses on evenings and weekends.
I met a woman internist who regularly shows up at L.A.’s hot new China Club decidedly sans medico, wearing fluorescent orange a d black polka dot see-through chiffon skirt, lace and rhinestone studded bra, and motorcycle jacket trimmed with chains. Her usual Madonna-like “do” is tossed, teased and punked out.
My friend Jack has spent the last decade as a clothing representative for a designer women’s wear line. He believes that what women think men find attractive is often a fashion fiasco.
“Some women think that looking like you just got off your Harley is attractive to a man but most of us can’t stand it. Most of us hate teased magenta hair, heavy makeup and very long fingernails. A guy may turn his head to look at a woman wearing a sequined bra or corselet,” he says, “but he doesn’t want his wife or girlfriend wearing one in public.”
Men don’t like women who dress like men, either, according to Jack.
“I went out with a very pretty lady who was basically dressed like a guy. She had on a suit jacket, trousers, oxford shirt, necktie and a hat. She may have been the very essence of haute couture, but the look did not appeal to me.”
What do men like? “In general, soft fabrics--like silk, satin, velvet and wool. I like a woman’s figure to show, but not in an overt way. Plunging necklines, very tight clothes, for example, are OK sometimes, but I don’t like it when that is the only way she dresses.”
How should men dress to attract women?
Laura Downing, owner of Laura, a Laguna Beach-based women’s wear boutique, believes men should power dress, but in subtle ways. “Too flashy bothers me. I like a look that shows he’s in control but not like he’s trying to attract a lot of attention.”
Tweeds and nubby fabrics that were popular in the early 1980s are passe today, she says. “Georgio Armani started this slouch-chic look that is becoming so big. Light wools, cottons, rayon, all very big now. Everything has gone softer, more subtle.”
Both Jack and Downing agree: When dressing for the opposite sex, dress for yourself. Wear what makes you look good. The best wardrobe choices are those that boost self-confidence and allow the real “you” to shine through.
