fresh in my white tee..

now i'm not a fashion guru..i'm straight after all. i'm not into being flashy & fly...but i do know how to dress. recently on a friend's journal i had a discussion with a few young ladies about fashion. they we're commenting on a guy's refusal to wear anything other than white tees, jeans, jackets, & fitted hats.

my style..a cross between skater/backpacker/southern/prep/rockstar. meaning most of my attire consist of shorts, khakis, t-shirts (with messages), polos, & sneakers w/no socks. that's a daily thing. this doesn't fair well with chicks i date.

simply because women, take time to look nice for you. yes 2 -3 hours prep time is spent doing something useful while making us late to whatever the hell it is we're trying to go to. as a man, ladies..i truly do appreciate that! but come on, just because you wanna wear a dress to the movies..why does that mean i have to wear a button up? i'm saying are we going to a play or the $5.75 matinee at AMC? the two young ladies i was "discussing" (i say discussing..we actually were hijacking someone else's post and commenting back & forth to one another) were saying:

how convo started:

"Lastly, he doesn’t feel like he should step it up. You know hard bottoms, button ups, ties, sweaters, blazers, etc.? He says he doesn’t wear that shit because when he puts it on he feels like he looks like everyone else and that’s not him therefore if he can’t get in ‘wherever’ without some custom sneakers....and his jeans/tee/jacket/fitted that place aint for him! "

first young lady :responded: "I mean it takes a REAL man to be able to dress like everyone else and still stand out..."

second young lady :responded: "Like foreal dude someone need to tell him that ummmm PEOPLE WITH REAL JOBS HAVE TO WEAR HARD BOTTOMS LOL..! NOT SOME HOURLY PAID SHIT I'M TALKING SOME 401K i'M GOING TO RETIRE FROM HIS TYPE JOB.."

" i " :responded: "i'm sorry, but i agree with his fashion stance. i think it's lame to dress like everyone else. it shows no character or sign of personality. a real man defines who he is. a real man stands on his own. dressing like everyone else = follower, and professes you have the inability to dress like an individual. unless i'm in high school and uniforms are mandatory, my ability to be an individual is limitless. meaning, i don't have to dress like everyone else, so why would i choose to?

well i wasn't expecting the first young lady to get back at me. but she then launches in on me telling me her boyfriend dresses up everyday for his career. actually quote: " because my bf gets dressed to the nines everyday for his CAREER...notice I didn't say job" i'm sitting there like, what she trying to say..."i don't have a career..cause i don't dress up". i also had let the second young lady go, until my gmail started blinking with a reply notice from that post.

i was quick to say, "what does having a career have to do with how someone dresses? if you said your dude dresses to the nine because he likes to i would have left it alone. but you said he does it for his career. so he's conforming to the standards of his job, correct? or is he sitting around the crib in button ups & suits?"

the conversation ended with her telling me she understood where i was coming from so me & her both stop going gangsta on one another. but i'm saying...

why is what you wear so important to others? why do girlfriends, try to change our attire to something completely different then what we're accoustom to? it's bad enough when you talk to a woman not from the south she stereotypes you as a bad dresser off gate. "you guys in the south wear those bright colors (and i must admit i do love yellow & orange)...i dunno about yall". but when it goes from your clothes to your hair, facial hair, jewelry..where does it stop?

i told my girlfriend that i was rocking "my country bear" style. that consist of me growing out my hair..curly & bushy. a little beard here, a little beard there. and she greeted me with a "eehhh....?" not "eww nasty" but "eehhh..don't you know better". um, no i don't know better cause the last time i checked it was my head. my face. i don't meet you at your salon or the "golden tweezer" shop telling you how to groom yourself. why you being my "phone barber" like i called you for a consultation? it wasn't a question. i didn't want you to suggest anything else to me. i was simply telling you what it's looking like over on this end...

i'm saying...