Is anyone else insulted by the recent article “To Dress Well, a Woman Should Shop Like a Man” in the Personal Journal section of the WSJ? The article states that women have a lot to learn from the way men shop. I stand firm on the fact that women know shopping better than any man and I wish the WSJ would stick to it’s knitting and report on the financial industry, not on subjects about which they are uninformed.
The author begins her story about how women could learn a lot from men’s shopping habits by explaining that she first sensed this was true when a menswear designer told her that he couldn’t use a fabric unless it felt “good to the hand” because men won’t buy uncomfortable clothes. Whoa, that’s NOT a revelation to any woman. I know many well heeled women who will cross continents for certain cotton t-shirts because they are the softest most comfortable ever. The author goes on to say that this menswear designer/male friend shopper before trying a pair of pants felt the wool with his hand to ascertain it’s softness. And the point of that is…? Women on the other hand would rub the pants against their cheek, a much better and more accurate test of how soft the material is –plenty of women go to the extreme and lick the fabric to see if the fabric sticks to their taste buds to get a sense of the texture of a fabric! Now that’s the best way to shop for a comfortable fabric - all you men reading this, take note!
The author goes on to state authoritatively that tailoring “should matter”. No kidding but has this author been shopping recently? In my most recent shopping excursion for work clothes I was insulted with career wear dressed up as skinny pants, cropped pants and shirts cut down to your navel. Unless you are a teacher, a whore, or 6 feet by 99 pounds, who is buying this crap? Where on earth do real women with office jobs shop for clothes if they can’t spend $1000 on a blazer or pants? I have been reduced to buying disposable work clothes at Mandees. I recently bought a pair of black pants and wore them to work hoping no one would notice the sheen. Clearly for the $28 I paid, they are disposable – tailoring is not an issue. They are too big in the waist and too tight in the derriere , however they are a nice stretchy material so they are very forgiving. Women do care about tailoring, however, if you do not have a large disposable income, we are hostage to the crappy tailoring available. Men’s affordable clothing has decent tailoring – where is the justice in that?!
The author waxes on about this male shopper who squatted in the dressing room to be sure the pants he was trying on fit comfortably. Squatting, that’s all he did? Cmon, women invented the try on pant dance routine – it goes something like this – squat one, two, three, stand then kick your leg up over your head like a rockette one, two, three, then mountain climbers one, two, three. If you can do all those moves, then it’s a buy. If you can do 1 of the 3 moves, it’s still a buy though you should consider going on a diet or buying a tunic to cover the ill fitting pants.
Then the author enlightens us with the “a good jacket starts with a shoulder that permits comfortable movement and isn’t so stuffed with foam padding that it looks awkward with the arm raised. Obviously, the author is discussing a blazer or suit jacket. I am confident that the reader of the WSJ is well aware of the fact that those large 80’s shoulder pads went out with ‘80s and frankly, I am curious about what type of office job requires you to wear a blazer or suit jacket and raise both arms above your head like you are calling a touchdown?
Stop the insanity! Someone needs to tell the WSJ to get back to it’s core expertise - before we know it, someone at Instyle magazine might decide to start writing about free cash flow yields and sovereign debt.
