FashBlog.com

My husband is one of those guys who doesn't care much about clothes or fashion at all. He hates to go shopping for clothes, and, more importantly, hates spending lots of money on clothes. As a result, he never seems to wear anything but t-shirts and jeans or shorts (in the summer). These are just plain old t-shirts, too. No henleys or ringers or anything like that. He only owns a couple of shirts with collars, and maybe one or two pairs of khaki pants. He wears a collared shirt and pants exactly once a year: when we go to my mother's house for Thanksgiving dinner. Then it's right back to the t-shirt and jeans routine until the next Thanksgiving.

I guess this wouldn't be so bad if he regularly sported new t-shirts, but he hangs on to the same clothes until they literally fall apart. When I tell him he should get new t-shirts, he immediately points out that there are no holes in his other shirts, so they've got "years of service left in 'em." And he really means it, too. I would venture to guess that at least 80% of his current t-shirt stock consists of shirts that are more than 5 years old. Yes, five years old! I don't know about you, but that seems like a long time to hold on to and wear a t-shirt (he does wear these out in public). T-shirts aren't made to endure that many years of spin cycles in the washing machine and high-heat cycles in the dryer. So you can probably imagine the state that some of his shirts are in: the graphics have peeled or become so faded that you can't read them, and the neck area has become frayed and ragged looking. But, he's right. There are no actual holes in them, so he just keeps on wearing them.

At least his jeans and shorts are in better shape. He buys cheap jeans because he can't stand name-brand clothes. So he totally avoids Levi's, Abercrombie & Fitch, Tommy Hilfiger, and all other famous brands. I think the jeans he currently owns were all bought from an outlet store for less than $15 a piece. Even though they were cheap, the jeans have held up remarkably well and don't much wear and tear from all the years of use. Who knows how many "years of service" my husband will get from one pair of jeans!

I will admit that after we first got married, I tried to change my husband's wardrobe. I know that this is a pretty stereotypical thing for a woman to do, but I couldn't help it. I wanted him to look a little more presentable when we went out to a restaurant or to a friend's house for dinner or a party. At least I didn't just take him to the mall one day and tell him that we were going to overhaul his wardrobe. I was a bit more subtle about it and gave him the new clothes as Christmas and birthday gifts. I bought casual items, such as polo-type shirts and Dockers pants. But he just as subtly turned aside my attempts at improvement, and never wore the new clothes.

I gradually accepted the fact that my husband would never dress the way I wanted him to. It's not that I mind t-shirts and jeans. In fact, a significant portion of my own wardrobe consists of these very same items. It's just that sometimes I would like to get dressed up and go to a fancy restaurant, or take in a play or musical downtown. I never quite realized how not having the right type of clothing could limit our activities. But, as I said, I've learned to live with it by now. My husband wouldn't be at ease in those places, and his comfort is more important to me than eating at a certain restaurant or seeing a play.

If clothes really do make the man, then I count myself very lucky. My husband's wardrobe shows that he is a very laid back and down-to-earth person who isn't concerned with shallow things like a person's outward appearance. I would take that over a few nights out on the town any day!