I’ll start with the story that triggered this off…

Recently, a friend of mine started seeing a new guy. They met at my workplace- he works with me and she was meeting me for lunch. He was in the work uniform (unimportant right now but a crucial point to remember in a bit). Anyway, they got on really well, exchanged numbers and started talking non-stop everyday, so a first date was arranged almost immediately.

When she called me the next day after their date, I expected good news due to them hitting it off so quickly. Instead I was given an hour-long rant about what he wore. She did not approve of his t-shirt, skinny jeans and deck shoes ensemble. Not at all, not one bit.

In fact, she hated what he wore so badly that she told him at the end of the night that looking at him gave her bad heart palpitations as well as making her feel sick. And she was considering ignoring his messages and calling off the second date they had planned pre- ‘I hate your clothes’ gate.

I had never heard of anyone hating an outfit so much. Ok, you don’t have to always necessarily like what your other half is wearing, but subtle changes rather than a full-on argument about your disgust for their clothing is surely the better way to go? She insisted she wasn’t being shallow and had his best interests at heart, that by him dressing how she wanted him to it would benefit the prospect of them having a relationship.

Personally, I am a firm believer that people should be able to wear what they want, as long as it’s appropriate for where they’re going and isn’t just plain ridiculous. It’s a fact that our attire is of great importance when we face a job interview or a dress-code, but is a person’s fashion style taken so seriously nowadays that it could effect their relationship or effect their chances at romance?

Two weeks later, my friend ended it with the guy. She finished it when he failed to fulfil her requests that he needed to cut his hair differently and go to the dentist.

The jeans and deck shoes are still intact. It is, however, very awkward when I go to work now.