Her: I like you yellow shirt. I goes great with the yellow symbol on your sweater.
Me: Thanks, That's what I was going for.
And then wait for it......
Her: Did your wife pick that out for you?
Me: No, I know a little about color. I've been buying my own clothes since I was ten.
Her: I always had to dress my husband. He would wear anything and it was so embarrassing!
For some reason I have had this conversation many times in my life. I have learned that guys aren't suppose to like clothes, know colors or know what goes with what. When I tell people my story, they look at me like I'm weird. I know one part of my story IS weird because I like to shop! I was the youngest of my brothers so whenever my Mother went shopping I went as well. As a matter of fact I did most of the family's week day grocery shopping on my trusty bicycle. I knew the family favorite brands and I learned how to influence some of the buying. My opinions spread into clothes: what kind of tennis shoes and which shirts. I went from there.
So through the years I have learned that there are guy rules: Guys don't like to shop. Guys should care what they wear unless it has a logo of their sports team, their sports store, and sometimes their ammo! When their wife shows them something they say: Ok or whatever.
The crazy thing is that I have to fake it in business as well. When we design a building and it is time to pick colors, many times I hire a female designer to help because if they think I picked the colors it is weird. Even in Architecture people don't want guys to know color. To me that is the weird thought! But it has an advantage: There's someone else to blame if they don't like my ideas.
