By this stage in your dating life, you may have come to realise that when it comes to picking men, you fall for a certain type… For some it’s tall, dark and handsome; for others it’s anyone in ones. Whatever your preference, whether it’s bad boy or public-school boy, it’s safe to say that we all have our niche market.
In the same way that we’ve learnt which clothes suit us best, we also know which men look best on our arm. They are, when it comes down to it, the perfect accessory. The thing is, whilst ASOS lets us restrict our search to a chosen colouring, style and finances before we even start browsing, tragically there is no such filter process for finding men.
When it comes to Exeter, there is a slight exception to this rule: all the boys are blonde, athletic and own Yorkshire so if you want a posh, rugby boy, Wednesday TP is pretty much a private sample sale. In the world outside of the bubble however, if you’re browsing in terms to buy, (not just wear once and return), finding a boy who ticks all the boxes can prove difficult to do. Consequently, as we’ve realised that some things matter more than whether he wears nice shoes, the “perfect” physical attributes have sometimes fallen by the way side. We’ve learned that it really is what’s on the inside that counts and on the whole, our relationships are far better for it. The thing is, is this entirely sufficient to grant us total immunity to our boyfriend’s extremities?
Given that one of my newly coupled male friends now models a new shirt and chinos instead of his usual “T-shirt and Jeans” combo, it’s a fair assumption that the answer to this questions is “no”. Such “fine-tuning” is something that we are all guilty of in our relationships: we encourage boys to buy cashmere sweaters (ultimately so we can wear them), get their hair cut (how we’d like it) and beg them to stop wearing trainers; Christmas presents are subtly modelled around what we want to see them in and if we accidently pour red wine over their hideous favourite jumper, we’re really just being kind. (Sorry darling.) Are we being shallow? Of course not, it’s only in their best interest… In the same way that men are better at changing light bulbs, taking out rubbish, and parking cars (yes, I’ll give them that one) women are better at dealing with all things Topshop. As a result, we’re really just doing them a favour… If we were to buy a new car, we would appreciate a man’s advice: they watch Top Gear, follow Formula 1 and know what a DB9 is. By the same token, however, men should appreciate our advice when it comes to clothes; after all Trinny and Susannah at least taught us something.
When it comes down to it, superficialities should never be anything more than superficial issues in relationships, however, if our men are encouraged to wear more Asprey than Addidas occasionally it’s not going to kill them. We aren’t trying to change the ones we love; it’s just about a little fine tuning.*
*This article does not apply to Eddie Redmayne. He is perfect and would need no fine-tuning at all.