Style Is A Way To Say Who You Are Without Having To Speak.

Blog 3 of the week … what is going on? However, I cannot guarantee I will have this amount every week. Some weeks I might not even post any due to being busy or not having inspiration but wow … 3 posts in a week.

I guess I should explain this post a little in the abstract as it were. So, being from the U.K, I have noticed a few things when doing clothes shopping. Now this isn’t to do with gender specific shops like Victoria’s Secret, Topman, etc I’m talking about the stores that claim to sell all kinds of clothes.

I have asked people from USA and others and noticed myself in America and some American branded stores (Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch etc) but the men sections in other stores in the UK are a bit shit to be honest.

Now I am a guy who loves to clothes shop. I love buying cool tees, jeans and shoes etc. I often go into Manchester and the Trafford centre to browse. There are man and women specific stores but to be honest, I’m not a huge fan of some of those. The stores like Luke are shit for me. I’m not a huge Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Hilfiger, etc fan so buying those tops would be a waste for me … plus they’re expensive as fuck! Paying £50 or whatever for a tee that just says “Calvin Clein” over and over on a plain white tee is just fucking stupid to me. I don’t care if it was sewn with gold thread … it’s a no from Jim.

So, if I was to go to stores such as Matalan, F&F in Tesco stores, George in Asda, Next, very small Primark stores, etc there is such an awful selection of male clothing, its ridiculous. Now I love shopping, but I will avoid those types of stores WITH A PASSION. I should say not all Primark’s however, Manchester centre (and hopefully soon the Trafford centre one) are EPIC and I’ve bought some of my favourite tees and outerwear from those stores. I’m talking about the smaller stores like the ones at Bury, Preston, Bolton etc. There is a HUGE women’s section, and the men’s section is dumped in the far corner and is like 1/10^th of the store. Within that 10^th there must be nightwear, suits, tees, seasonal, shoes etc whilst the women’s section is 8 times bigger.

Now don’t get me wrong, I realise that women have more layers to buy and wear. More underwear, makeup, accessories etc … but to be 8 times bigger is a little insulting. Even in the Manchester store, the men’s section is on the basement floor and shared with the kids’ section whilst women’s is on the ground and upper floor. Granted there is a café there, a home section and general accessories but still.

Even looking online, the men’s section ALWAYS have the same kinds of clothing. You’ll have the basic tees. Solid colour, dark ones like navy, burgundy, black, white blue and white, etc. Then you will have ones that have a car brand on like ‘MUSTANG’, ‘VW CAMPER’, ‘MOTORBIKES’, and then have random tv show garages like ‘GAS MONKEY’, then a general ‘NASA’, and not forgetting, the random American state tops with a city/state and an animal, ‘WILLIAMSBURG PHANTOM’.

As well as those, you will find some cool pop culture tops. HOWEVER, they will be golden era comic books, Star Wars logo from the 70’s, Random movies, etc.

Then we have the shirts. There will ALWAYS be shirts in the men’s section. Now I do enjoy a shirt every now and then. They’re good for hot weather as are loose and wear a plain white tee underneath and have it open and flowy. But the shirts on sale are ALWAYS the same. Always striped, or spotty, or hatch, or lumberjack.

Then we have Pj’s. there will always be basic lounge pants. Which are good, I have a drawer devoted to them. Even some with pockets. But there will always be the old-style ones that take more effort to put on than a straight jacket. They button up and look stiff. I do realise that some older men may prefer those so I’m not as angsty about those. I guess people must buy them as they’re always on sale everywhere. 

Then we come to the shoes. I realise that shoes can be a specific purchase and most guys will go to specialist shops for those (me included ... sketchers/New Balance HYPE!!). The shoes sold in the clothing shops mentioned above have all the same style. Basic, cheap looking, uncomfortable looking, black or white sneaker style. My feet hurt just looking at them.

Now I’ve said this get on my wick, However, I came to the realisation today that my fashion sense is very particular. I go for geeky tees. Your superhero symbols, anime style tees, ones where those stores will occasionally get in, but usually will have to go online for or sometimes, Primark in Manchester will pull through. I took pictures of some of mine below. I can’t include all of them as I have a whole drawer devoted to geeky tees. The others are mostly American brands with a huge logo on it or are comfy AF and stand out in a way. Your Hollister, Abercrombie, AEO, even some GAP etc.

 (I should add that 3 out of the 4 tees pictures above are from Primark)

Also, I started to watch a show today called ‘Dress to Impress’ where the premise of the show is that 3 single people get instructions from another single person and then the 3 have to go and buy clothes that they think the 1 will like. The one then must choose 2 that are the better, and then those 2 go out again for a 2^nd outfit and then the winner goes on a date with the 1. Its better than it sounds here but its set in Manchester and I love things set in Manchester … so stop judging me. ANYWAYS, in this, I’ve noticed that they go to the same shops, and from all the outfits that were chosen for guys, Id hate every one of them. EVERY SINGLE ONE!! So, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m an awkward picky bastard when it comes to clothes and I’m probably better off shopping for myself. Plus, people are different, and I am a unique person so that’s something. Some people will dress like me, but I have a quite unique style depending on how I’m feeling.

I have stated in this post about men’s and women’s clothing, but there are a few gender-neutral clothing lines appearing. It’s always been ok for women to wear men’s clothing. A lot of GF’s and wives will wear men’s hoodies and tees and have them baggy. But I’ve seen women wear men’s normal tees. Heck, even my sister sometimes buys men’s pjs to wear as they’re cool designs and usually have pockets. The tee I’m wearing for bed is technically a woman’s top, but you can’t tell.

So, there we go. I’ve come full circle and the point I was trying to make is somewhat moot. Although it still annoys me that the “men’s” section in some general clothing stores are appalling. Give me bigger sections please. Let me browse as much as my sister and mum. 




PLEASE!!

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