Don't despair when dressing a spouse

I] THOUGHT I had changed his fashion tastes. I really did its huge red and green plaid made

— then I saw the ncon plaid jacket. him look like a neon Christmas tree,

‘Who in his right mind would

After all these years | thought I

had curbed his fashion fiascoes By DIANE BENT wear such a thing?” [ thought to until that bitter cold day when he Conteihuting Weer myself, then I lifted my eyes to the pulled this skeleton out of the where we were mecting for dinner Wearer’s face. 1t was my husband! closet. — and that's when I spotted it! 1 sank down in my chair in I arrived early at the restaurant Not only was it big and bulky, bur despair —~ 14 years of work gone in one swipe.

PURPLE POWER

When I met Richard | thought everything about him was wonder- ful, except his wardrobe. He gave a whole different shade of meaning

4 6to the Color Purple, back then. Head to toe, his passion for purple (called Italian plum at the time) knew no bounds. But that wasn’t

rk Royal South 922-8715

Finally all 3 e i sees | tirmee trimmer body ; Much to my embarrassment, he withoutover-crowded J wore old shirts — so old, so frayed ” — fitness clubs or miracle f «that ring around the collar would s-diets. You can accomplish fh have been impossible,

in a few months what could He wore pants, the widest beil- take over a year to dupli- B bottoms he could find, which was h cate in a gym. Our meth- = okay because they were the style —- la ods are proven by thou- but he-wore them ankle high for

sands of satisfled cus- A | tomers and we offer a fear of flooding, I guess.

free session for any

OF SLIMMING IS BACK

dingerie ° Hosiery

he ladies who are - PLAID Sportswear 4 interested. Like a mantra. 1 repeated Annee a : “ ; i ike a mantra, I repeated over Accessories, a : “ : and over, ‘Richard, dear, real

men don’t wear plaid .... with stripes and polka dots.’’

I knew I had a tremendous challenge on my hands, so I began discreetly, carefully, to change his

’ fashion foibles.

| would leave men’s fashion magazines lying about on the cof- fee table, open at articles titled ‘Can You Tell A Man How To Dress?’ and ‘A Man’s Guide To Dressing Well’.

Then | became more aggressive. As soon as I had any reason at all — I think it was Ground Hog’s Day — I gave him a designer shirt . and matching tie. :

“Oh, look at that gorgeous grey suit so-and-so has on,’* Pd say with.a nudge. ‘‘Wouldn’t you look good in that?”’

COLOR LESSONS

} started dragging him through every men’s store and mall, and gave him basic lessons on color coordination. .

“No,’’ I would sigh, when ‘he

- would pull some things off the rack and hold them proudly against himself with a hopeful look on his face. ‘‘Beige on bGeige on

beige — how borrriiianng!”’ or, “The orange shirt with red pants? No way!”

I became desperate. { raided his closet, throwing his polyester pants to the pigeons. I tried to unravel the mystery of why his favorite sweater had to be the shoddiest— you know, the one with the moth holes in the sleeve and stretched out of shape on one side. I gave up and gave it away.

inquire about our & Bed Fashion Show |.

CATCHING ON

Slowly, though, he caught on. He began buying shirts in sophisticated, subtle shades. He even. ventured forth to pick out matching ties — without my bein there! .

And when he purchased two suits with co-ordinating shirts, ties and socks, I really thought he was

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