Taking a male friend "style shopping." Your suggestions?

Tonight I'm taking a male friend to Nordstrom's to try on some current clothing. He's agreed to try things on just to see how they look and feel, in order to further his mission of finding love.

Any ideas of what to have him try on?
- mid-50s and looks it; though he prides himself on walking everywhere and being fit, he has a bit of a paunch, which his current wardrobe/style of wearing that wardrobe accentuates
- IT worker in traditional company, so no need to dress any differently

I hesitate to describe his current "uniform," because it's hard to describe both accurately and diplomatically in a manner suitable to the good tone of this forum.

I didn't think he'd agree to this, and now that he has, I really have no idea where to start! The SAs are lovely but I don't want to waste their time if he's just going to try things on and decide they're too new.

He's a wonderful person, a very good friend, and at the foundation a good-looking guy. It's really just his appearance (oh, and perhaps a few conversational quirks, and an unpredictably recurrent body odor issue) that is unnecessarily narrowing the range of women he could appeal to.

What do modern casual relaxed men of his age wear?

9 years ago

MsMary

Veteran

I would absolutely put him in the hands of a sales associate. Don't worry about wasting their time -- that's their job!

Also I don't think this is off topic -- perhaps you could re-post in the main forum and get more traffic!

chewyspaghetti

Well, my BF is his age and has been open to trying out my suggestions (thank goodness!) His uniform was cargo shorts or wrangler jeans with a tee, polo, or Hawaiian shirt and terrible athletic shoes. It's great that your friend is open to going shopping. With my BF, I stayed true to the things that he already liked and wore but we looked for more modern cuts (flat front Bermuda shorts, a nicer pair of jeans) and most importantly colors that really look good on him. My BF looks great in cool tones, so I try him in gray, black, blue and some greens. We found some inexpensive striped black and gray tee shirts with a v neck that are comfy for him and look a million times better than his old oversized screen print tees. I'm still working on shoes for him, but he does have black Converse All Star 2's that he wears (which are much more comfy than the originals). He found himself a nice watch and we upgraded his hats for more modern style and more flattering cuts. He's a musician and usually wears a hat when he performs. Hats are a great way to infuse some style into a man of that age, I think. I don't think you can go wrong with a nice pair of jeans and a flattering color button down shirt for a guy.

UmmLila (Lisa)

chewy, you've seen the WSJ article on cargo shorts, right? <http://www.wsj.com/articles/ni.....1470082856>

Minimalist, the advice might come better from a sales associate than from you.

I think one of the main things guys in this age range can do is embrace a trimmer cut of clothing, but not formfitting knits that emphasize paunch or dad - bod or whatever you want to call it.

minimalist

Thank you, Mary! Re-posting this in main forum now ...

UmmLila, yes, especially if the SA seems like she might be in his "target market."

Chewy, wow you advanced to accessorizing! That's inspiring.

UmmLila- you have to be a subscriber to read the full article, but the title is great!

Jane

Sounds fun but challenging. I would definitely go to the SA. That way you can be a neutral observer. I hope that it goes well, and he has some great finds.

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