to its most basic description it is the
idea of image, the projection of our-
selves onto others, and the projection
of others onto ourselves. Integral to this
‘projection’ of self is fashion, which is a
critical component in terms of personal
style. As aforementioned style, and more
specifically fashion, seems - from a male
perspective - to be more crucial to the
female experience of courtship than the
male’s, but this is a misconception. De-
spite the fact that women’s fashion may
generally be more elaborate and wide-
ly-discussed than men’s, both men’s and
women’s fashion are equally important
in the game of sexual attraction and
courtship.
One of the most fundamental struggles
men face when it comes to personal style
is the allure of comfort at the expense of
other, arguably more important factors
such as put-togetherness, quality, etc.,
and this is probably attributable to the
apparent double-standard within soci-
ety between men and women in terms
of ‘comfort vs. style.’ Women, over time,
have been forced to adopt a ‘no pain, no
gain’ mentality in terms of fashion, which
is particularly evident when we consider
the girdle (more historically), and objects
like high heels, skin-tight dresses, ‘suc-
tioning’ undergarments (such as Spanx),
mini-skirts, etc. Men, on the other hand,
have been able to enjoy a greater level
of comfort when it comes to fashion (his-
torically and today) than women have,
and as a logical consequence their ap-
proach to style has become substantially
more ‘slack’ than women’s. The fact is,
however, that men must reconcile them-
selves to the idea of being comfortable
with being uncomfortable (a concept to
which women have been long-accus-
tomed) if they wish to give themselves
that edge when attempting to win that
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MEN’S
special woman. This means that instead
of allowing ‘convenience’ or ‘ease’ to be
their primary considerations in terms of
fashion, men should style themselves
with a woman’s desires at the forefront
of their minds; it may seem daunting at
first trading in that T-shirt for a collared
shirt, but you’ll reap the rewards of the
self-worth and confidence you’ll project.
The advantages of dressing with a wom-
an’s desires as the standard may seem
pretty obvious, but the disadvantages
of failing to do so are probably far less
apparent; how a man (or anyone, for
that matter) dresses/styles himself says
more about him than he may realize. For
example, a woman who meets a man
who is dressed conservatively is likely
to, either subconsciously or conscious-
ly, categorize him as being conservative
with money, conservative in bed, con-
servative with his emotions, etc.; if she
is not enamored with the idea of being
with this kind of man she will immedi-
ately become turned off, without the
conservatively-dressed man having said
even one word. This example illustrates
the fact that, just as women would prefer
a man who chooses style (i.e., wearing a
collared shirt) over comfort (i.e., wearing
a T-shirt), they would prefer a man who
is not afraid of being a bit bold or per-
haps even ‘flashy’ over one whose style
is more drab or predictable.
The challenge of resisting dressing ‘drab-
ly’ or ‘predictably’ is representative of yet
another major struggle men are faced
with when it comes to fashion and per-
sonal style, and that is the allure of mini-
malism; generally-speaking men are not
encouraged to wear bright or eye-catch-
ing colors, or to embellish their personal
style to the same degree that women
are, and instead are encouraged (or at
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M A G A ZINE