10/11/12 - 0 Comments
Man Repellers? How the Boys React to the Season’s Hottest Trends
As trend-loving girls, we’re well aware that our affinity for the fashion forward is something of a double-edged sword. Despite our penchant for sartorial scholarship, many of us (okay, most) are still hoping to attract members of the opposite sex. For those of us who haven’t been hiding out under a rock, it isn’t really news that many guys just don’t understand a lot of the things we girls wear. And that’s putting it nicely.
Leandra Medine has made a fashion blogging career out of her unabashed attraction to guy-resistant styles. Aptly named The Man Repeller, her blog comically embraces the fact that the average male eye does not necessarily appreciate the avant-garde styles that she embraces wholeheartedly. However, not so long ago, the “Man Repeller” herself got married, leading many of us to question the validity of her theories on the relationship between fashion forward style and male-aversion. Here at Dual Show, we’ve decided to discern for ourselves how guys actually feel about some of the season’s hottest trends—here’s what we found out after surveying 150 men online:
We know that we’re in love with all things studs, spikes, and general hardware this autumn, but we haven’t been so sure as to what the boys are saying about them. 46% of dudes claim not to have any opinion whatsoever about this trend, and the other 54% is split between loving and hating the look.
Tons of girls are rocking ombred hair right now, and with cooler weather approaching, we were considering letting our summer streaks grow out to get in on the trend ourselves. It turns out that 45% of men are completely confused by this trend, and though only 7.5% claim to actually hate it, only 10% like it. The other 37.5% have no opinion on the matter.
If you’ve been paying attention to street style recently, you may have noticed a rise in high-necked shirts with collar necklaces—high fash, to say the least. Trendsetters love it, but apparently men despise it! A whopping 70% of surveyed men expressed pure disdain for this style.
Bright lips have been popular for some time now in varying shades of reds, corals, and pinks. Though painting on bright lips may disturb one’s level of kissability, the majority (53%) of men said that women should go for it! We could ruin our perfectly lined lips and smooch them for that!
Ah, the age-old question that, apparently, has yet to be answered. Are leggings pants, and can they be worn as such? Well, when it comes to vegan leather leggings, we enthusiastically exclaim, “yes!” But what do the boys think? 54% are all for it, and to be honest, that’s more than enough for us.
The Man Repeller can be held responsible for teaching us her ways with “arm candy,” or piled-on statement bracelets that consume a fair amount of bare skin when worn correctly. It’s a pretty close tie between those who are intrigued and those who are turned off by this trend, with responses of 36% yea and 39% nay, respectively.
Autumn brings crisp air, orange leaves and the promise of knit circle scarves wrapped cozily around our necks. Just when we thought that we knew what to expect of our boys’ opinions—totally unsexy—we were shocked to discover that guys actually like this look. 60% of them agree with us on this one. How exciting!
Last but not least, the tough girl combat boot that even the prettiest princesses love to wear. Layered with tights and cable knit socks, we are head over heels for this trend. It turns out that the male population mostly disagrees with us on that one, but not by much. 44% of guys don’t dig combat boots, 36% do and 20% have nothing to say on the matter.
All in all, it seems that it boils down to one final message. What men do and don’t like is unpredictable. If he loves us, he’ll love our clothes, no matter how fashionable we dare to be. Being who we are—ombre tresses, combat boots and all—is the most attractive quality we possess, and no amount of sartorial man repelling can change that.
Photo credit: The Man Repeller, Refinery 29, Teen Vogue, Streetfsn, Front Row Monthly, We Wore That, Lookbook.nu
