Idgaf if my wardrobe is ‘man-repelling’

It’s Fashion Week. The weather is changing. It’s time to update your outfits – but before you do so beware. You may be guilty of “man-repelling”.

You may have seen this Telegraph article or some incarnation of it floating around the internet. And like me, you may have spent a solid 20 minutes double and triple checking the date on that article, wondering how it was published as a genuine topic and concern in 2016. How are there still people out there who believe that everything women do is just for the benefit of men? It’s so ridiculous it makes my head hurt.

So to clarify what man-repelling actually is. According to the article:“It’s those clothes that women at the pointy end of fashion love, and men just do not get. Man Repellers are not dressing to impress the opposite sex.” So basically it seems to be people who dress – gasp – for themselves? According to this article, that’s both a thing, and a thing you should be doing. The most important thing in life is what men think of you after all.

Some guys like fashion. Some girls like fashion. Some non-binary people like fashion. Some of each group don’t. But even the entirety of any specific gender did have a particular issue with any forms of fashion, which they don’t because that’s stereotyping bullshit, I still wouldn’t give a flying fuck. And neither should you.

I dress for me, if I like it, I’m going to wear it. You are welcome to have an opinion, but it isn’t going to affect what I think. Regardless of who you are or how you identify, I don’t care if you hate my outfit. Spending my life worrying about what other people think of how I look seems like a colossal waste of time to me. Especially since it is literally impossible to please everyone.

Sadly, the author of the article above seems to only think of others when she dresses. “I have learned to walk the tightrope between clothes our girlfriends will admire and the ones men appreciate, or at any rate don’t detest.”

To be totally honest, if a guy ever told me he was “repelled” by my outfit, I’d take it as a compliment. Obviously it looks eye-catching and interesting, and any loser who thinks I’m going to care that he’s been put off of hitting on me is probably not someone I’d have wanted up in my face anyway. Let’s be honest, most people who are going to judge a girl that strongly based solely on her outfit are probably the same douchebags that think telling her to “get back in the kitchen” is a legitimate form of humour.

Just for fun, as the article insists “There is a universal list of items men find challenging – sleeveless coats, loafers, big-knickered bikini”, I had a Google to see if I could find it. There’s a lot of articles about clothes that men hate, so maybe I’m in some kind of weird minority in not giving a damn, although I really hope that’s not the case. They are also all really different and contradictory.

Some reckon men hate thongs, others reckon it’s any other kind of pants men hate. Obviously, the only way to please them all on that front is to go commando. Both Uggs and heels come up pretty often, and between all the lists, every pair of shoes I own comes up. Which I’m going to count as a win. Overall though, the general vibe is that anything too “fashion-y” or “slobby” is out.

I might be wrong, but depending on how you interpret those incredibly vague terms, that kind of includes all clothes. But they also hate it if we’re running around with skin showing.

Evidently, there’s no winning, whether you wear clothes or not, you’re going to repel a person or two. But chances are they’re not going to be people you’d want in your life. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go and put on my Uggs and a sleeveless coat, because it’s 2016 and if I want to, I can.