I Know What Boys Want

Okay, not that. I'm talking clothes. Menswear. Menswear in Fairfield. Why bother, right? I just can't help it. If you make clothes, and you have male friends, and you don't make clothes for your male friends, then you're bad friend. Or at least that's what mine claim. But mostly, it's part of the big picture. Man/Woman/Child. I love the way they look coming down the runway. I love to see how an idea from one end of the spectrum works on the other. I love the off kilter nuclear family in my store window. I look at menswear from a different perspective-a woman's. Which can really work in a guy's favor. Not to fly the sexist flag here, but why are 98% of the world's 'big names' in women's design men? Can you tell me what a man brings to that table a woman can't do in reverse? I ask, I listen, and I learn. And sometimes I hear the best things, like the guy who told me people constantly say "Nice Pants!" when he wears my trousers. Or another who said he always hears "Wow-where did you get that shirt?" and not in a "and how long will you be travelling with the circus?" vibe. Sometimes I have to really, really rack my brain thinking does the world really need a red knit shirt with a red/white seersucker placket? Apparently, I decided the answer was yes, because I couldn't get it out of my head, and made it today. I think it's just the tweak you need to not be the10,000 guy in a plain polo shirt. My first 'date' with my husband, a man with a refined funky style, was vintage clothes shopping in our hometown of Providence, R.I., many, many years ago. I still ask his opinion on most men's things I do with the simple "Would you wear that?" He's not always going to say yes, and I don't swear by it. And sometimes I revel in the "Are you high?" or "No, because I'm not one of the Monkeys" wisecracks I get back, and run with it. Like this month, when I wanted to do a pale, pale yellow rubberized linen rain jacket and he said "Nah, too buttery". Two hours later, I was fitting the newly christened "Like Butta" on one of my male models, and enjoying it's Steve McQueen meets Jack White joy, as was the model who said "This is really cool". It's a stretch, but if you see a guy walking down Post road in a really cool zip front raincoat, tell him "Nice jacket!". Maybe he'll think outside the box more often.