Do you take care of your appearance?
Whilst they may once have been into designer labels and ‘looking the business’, new research reveals the average age a man gives up on shopping for fashionable clothes is 37.
The research, conducted by isme.com, found that their partners are doing their best to prevent what experts have labelled the 'Clarkson effect'.
The study found that more than a third of women buy all of their partner's clothes and six out of ten admit that they buy these items or intervene on the man's choices to prevent purchases in an attempt to make their partner look more stylish and less dated, scruffy or un-coordinated.
These desperate wives listed the top style sins that made them turn into fashion police:
1. Denim disasters – baggy, high-waisted and ankle grazing, and in one reported case, jeans worn with matching denim waistcoat
2. Pitiful pants – old fashioned, too small and… beige!
3. Scandalous swimwear – Speedo-style briefs that should stay on the athletes this summer
4. Colourless combos – a palette of dreadful dull shades
5. Sandals with socks – yes. It still happens.
6. Mutton dressed as ram – overly-youthful hoodies and t-shirts that belong on The Wanted, not the wanted list
7. Retro retribution – original 70s checked flares back to haunt them
8. Fearsome floral shirts – and other obnoxious or outdated prints
9. Tired ties – although most fashion faux pas concerned casual wear, there remains a scourge of dated, school-tie style neck-wear (4 per cent)
9. Shocking suits – scary spectacles included shell suits, shiny suits and even safari suits
The celebrity most older British men dressed like, according to their wives, was Jeremy Clarkson, famed for his jacket, crumpled shirt and loose jeans combination, but that’s not the look their partners crave. Given the choice, they’d much rather see our men take style notes from a Hollywood heart throb in the form of George Clooney. Failing that, Hugh Grant would do nicely.
Who British men most dress like:
1. Jeremy Clarkson
2. Alan Titchmarsh
3. Stephen Fry
4. Prince Charles
5. Richard Madeley
Who women wished they dressed like:
1. George Clooney
2. Hugh Grant
3. Alan Titchmarsh
4. Bryan Ferry
5. Richard Madeley
According to Julie Donnelly, Head of Womenswear buying at isme.com: “Just because our bodies change and may not be as form it doesn’t mean men should give up at 37. While Jeremy Clarkson is a massively influential figure among British men, he also appears to be an unlikely fashion icon.
“Men don’t need to have the physique of George Clooney to look more stylish and contemporary to gain brownie points with their partner. All they have to do is adopt a few simple rules and pointers that can make them look leaner, smarter and maybe even shed a few years and turn a few heads like George in the process.”
The research also revealed that almost half of British men had never shown an interest in fashion shopping, according to their other halves. In fact, given the changes to their body shape over the years women reported that of men wouldn’t be able to choose the correct size – resulting in clothes that are too baggy, saggy or even worse, too tight in the wrong places with unflattering consequences.
Left to their own devices women said a quarter of men wouldn’t even bother with clothes shopping at all. Others would only venture into menswear when clothes were too worn to wear or buy items based on lowest price rather than appearance.
Femalefirst Taryn Davies