I’ve written at length about what women are wearing, but this week, I’m shifting gears to focus on men on the campus and discuss their dressing habits — or lack thereof.
I know a guy who’s wearing an Orioles shirt every time I see him.
This is not an exaggeration.
I saw him at a sorority date party, where the majority of guys wear button-down shirts. This guy rolled into the party wearing a bright orange Orioles shirt and khaki pants.
I’m sorry, but women are not going to swoon at your feet because of your athletic affiliation. We’re not that easy.
Orioles dude is the worst-case scenario. Most men know when you are going to a date’s party you need to dress it up a little. Girls put in all this effort to get ready, and it frustrates me to no end when I see Orioles dude looking as though he got dressed in five minutes. We get it, you give zero f—s.
But us girls, we notice. We see how much you don’t care, and it’s a huge turnoff. No one wants to date the guy who doesn’t know how to match his shirt and pants. And no one especially wants to date the guy who can’t leave “his team” in his closet.
Best-case scenario: the guy I was in front of at the journalism school Nov. 10. Yes, I remember the day because it was that big of a deal. I saw him and I tried not to stare, but it was hard. His species is so rare in College Park, I had to stand and gape as long as I could.
He dressed as though he just walked out of a J.Crew catalogue. Not in a pretentious way, but in a way that made me want to take pictures of him and hand them out to all men and ask, “Why can’t you be more like him?”
His black peacoat was buttoned up all the way and his red flannel was peaking out of the top for all to admire. He wore dark-wash bootcut jeans that fit perfectly with his dark gray suede shoes. To top it all off, his glasses complimented his bone structure exquisitely.
I saw him, and I could immediately tell he put in some serious effort. I think the most amazing part is that it wasn’t even for a special occasion like a date party; he was just going to class.
Looking at the Instagrams of on-campus celebrities, such as basketball player Dez Wells, I am seriously impressed with some of their outfits. Wells isn’t perfect, but he does turn up the fashion game, going from looking as though he just walked off of the cover of GQ to looking as though he just left a patchwork denim convention.
I get that not every guy wants to dress like a celebrity or even thinks he can do so. It isn’t about doing the most; it’s just about doing a little more.
At least better than Orioles dude.
