“That's a Reallly good question!”...what my sources often say before they answer me.
Men must care, as much as women do, about their image, especially in this economy.
Obama is the president of the United States, but few describe his fashion sense as bold or risky! How ironic or sad is it that with the over-eager attention to Mrs. Obama's style choices, few people are talking or writing about Mr. Obama? Perhaps it isn't sad; she dresses as boldly as she wants to and he doesn't. But the renaissance of this topic of conversation brings up an interesting question.
Why do so few men take pride in their personal appearance, in how they present themselves? Maybe they are proud, but if so why doesn't their clothing demonstrate their pride in self? There's far too much frump. I marvel daily at how women are expected to flaunt, but men are not. The era where women must market their assets or meat has passed somewhat. Frankly, women can take care of themselves; they neither seek, nor need a man to pay their mortgages.
Men complain that it's froo froo or gay to care about how you look. It's not a question of sexuality, or of orientation, or of being a metrosexual as it is about how and why you act how you see yourself in public. Do you want to flaunt yourself?
The catty, fashionista hosts of TLC's "What Not to Wear" provide their viewers with at least one gem: if you don't think you look fabulous, awesome or whatever when you look in the mirror, then something is wrong. Are you wearing the wrong colors, the wrong sizes or what?
This is not about appealing to that great woman.
The point is the way that well-fitting clothes look much better on you. Also they will emphasize your specialness. This is a problem especially if you're one who can barely find off-the-rack clothes that both fit your body and your fancy.
Some people, who have bodies that the mass-market designers rarely suit, will learn a lot from meeting with a tailor. The right tailor, like John Meegan at Minneapolis' Top Shelf, Inc., will advise you on the best fabrics, cuts, colors and other tactics to build your personal and professional images. Our depressed economy poses a nasty irony: right when you need to look your best as you schmooze and interview in pursuit of work, you rarely can afford what most people consider a luxury.
If your physique is well satisfied by designers that Macy's, Target or the others offer, then your options are less costly: still even if you give no money to a tailor, like Mr. Meegan, it will only help you to meet with him so you get that tailor's recommendations about what colors, cuts and patterns will boost your professional image and your self-image. That attitude or sensibility may be the domain of the artistic person - he or she who likes the adventure of thinking about less conventionally.
How important to you is the image of self-confidence, of grace or charm?
A friend said this about an eloquent story idea and my passion for it.
“Will, you are a real journalist and storyteller with the fire inside you! bravo.”NPR News' France Correspondent, Eleanor Beardsley
