In case you are not familiar with
The Man Repeller blog, do take a look. The hilarious author presents you with her (partly tongue-in-cheek) selections of outfits and fashions that make the opposite sex steer steadily away from her. Knowing how much Chris loves to see me in what are common "man repellants" such as denim overalls, nerdy glasses and clogs, I asked him to sit down with me last night to flip through fashion magazines. In short, I wanted to know what repels my man and what makes him tick, and how justifiable it is to claim, even half-jokingly, that straight men don't get fashion. I thought my husband would be an excellent pick for a guinea pig: so he is not your typical heterosexual male when it comes to fashion, but he has opinions, lots of them. We looked at catwalk pictures, street style photos and images of celebrities, pretty much whatever caused a reaction of some sorts. Here are the results:

To my surprise, this Prada look was an instant hit. Chris liked the skirt, even the fact that it is high-waisted, and heck, he even thought the monkey-print was cute. He thought that it would take a brave individual to wear this in public, that no one in our town would. But if you skipped the heels, the look would be a lot more wearable.


The two Celine looks above got low ratings. The sleeveless wrap-jacket in the top picture reminded Chris of martial arts. Overall, the whole outfit seemed "ill-fitting and plain". The blue blouse in the bottom picture was "ok", but the leather skirt "horrible".

The "ladylike luxe" as portrayed here by Harper's Bazaar was a hit. Chris took an instant liking to the yellow Michael Kors look on the right. The Proenza Schouler look on the left pleased him as well. And speaking of Michael Kors, the yellow maxi dress (a common man repellant) below was one of Chris's favourites of all the images we saw.

Kate Bosworth wearing this Proenza Schouler dress below looked "great". Chris thought the teaming of black accessories with the vibrant-looking dress was an excellent touch.

Another well-dressed celebrity was Diane Sawyer. Her outfit below looked like something many women of different ages, shapes and sizes could wear.

The harshest reaction was reserved for anything Lanvin.

Every single Lanvin dress we saw was "hideous" or "something an 80-year-old would wear in Florida". There was too much pleating, too much layering, the dresses (not just these three above, even short ones) were "cut horribly" and looked "ill-fitting and unflattering". The studded Burberry trench below was also "just horrible".

Some unexpected favourites included this Christopher Kane outfit.

Chris thought it looked "very attractive" because of the wallpaper-like pattern and the vintage-y look. It also got high points because women of different sizes and ages could wear this and look sophisticated. The only negative aspect arose once I told Chris that the outfit was made of leather: "Ugh, I just don't like leather clothes". The Fendi platforms were Chris's favourite shoes of what we saw.

The Marc Jacobs ad campaign got positive attention, too. Chris thought the clothes here were "bold and striking", although a little "costume-y". He thought someone in their twenties could wear it for real.

Overall, Chris seems to be a lot more open-minded about fashion than I am. I'd dismiss a look I didn't like in an instant, whereas Chris paid close attention to detail, cut and texture, and considered issues like comfort and wearability, age and size. There were only a handful of pictures whose potential he didn't consider: almost everything was at least worth a pause and a moment of weighing in what was presented. Alongside the above-mentioned Lanvin, anything by Jil Sander was met with instant disbelief: the clothes were unflattering and made even tall, slim models look odd and disproportionate.
Chris seemed very sensitive to the fact that in fashion magazines clothes are portrayed on young, very slim women. He thought that Marie Claire's "What I love about me"-section was refreshing: "it's nice to see what women actually wear".

I guess the purpose of this experiment was to be able to say what I already thought before: that sex isn't necessarily the defining factor when it comes to issues of personal taste. What is commonly considered man-repelling can also be woman-repelling: I hate Marc Jacobs's spring collection with a vengeance, and Chris happened to like several aspects of it. I thought the neon-green Christopher Kane ensemble was mumsy and the colour way too difficult, whereas Chris thought it was stylish, vibrant and interesting. Many things in current fashion repel me more than my husband. I still appreciate designers presenting and actual people wearing bold, unusual looks: it is refreshing to see people push the boundaries of what can be worn and how, regardless of what I might find appealing personally.
Are your significant others, boyfriends, husbands, partners or male friends interested in fashion, and do they comment on your fashion choices? Do you think there are such things as "man repellants"?