Styled By Nate

Don’t ask me why (I blame my Facebook newsfeed) but I decided it would be fun to have Nate dress me for a week. Call me bored. Call me crazy. But I thought it would be fun and Nate was (barely) game.

When I cornered asked him if he would be interested in partaking in this fun social experiment he was quick to say no. But nothing a little ‘don’t you want the blog to live on’ guilt-trip couldn’t handle and he was in. He spent the first 10 minutes pacing back and forth in our closet just pointing at all of my clothes saying things like: “I don’t even know what these things are” (they were shirts)´or “How am I supposed to know what to do with all of this stuff (meaning pants)” and finally pulled out this:

Sure, it was the pair of jeans from the top of the pile. And yes it was literally the first sweater he touched. BUT—generally speaking--These two things go together. And are relatively appropriate for work. SCORE! (Editors note: I DID have to add a camisole under the sweater because MN Winter and a girl cannot sit in her office all day freezing because her husband “does not know about these things” even though he himself puts an undershirt on every day).

Day Two

I gave Nate direction--I have a couple of big meetings and I 'want to look nice'. Most men would shudder at the pressure of that ambiguous statement. But not Nate. He confidently strode to the closet and busted out the Blazer. And that is where the confidence stopped.

He then spent the next 10 minutes asking me the same question over and over again: "Where are all of your sweaters without buttons?" (also known as a cardigan by fashionistas everywhere). I pretty much just sat there giggling at him. And finally had to tell him that I don't really own any sweaters without buttons that would FIT under my blazer because women's blazers fit a little different than mens.

So he changed his course, and pulled this ensemble together. I took my first deep breath of "am I actually going to wear this to work" because I really dislike that button down under the blazer which led me to my first eureka, why do I have clothes I would feel bad about wearing in my closet?

Day 3:

Nate gets home before me and as I walk in the door, he proudly tells me my outfit for tomorrow is already laid out. As we head upstairs to check it out, he shows it to me all put together and says: "I think this is something!". I have to say I was semi-impressed. We have some meaningful layering going on. Point Nate!

Day 4:

This is when it all starts to fall apart.Nate pretty much sent me to work on Friday in pajamas. No seriously, I think I sleep in this shirt more than I wear it in public. And yet---here I am. Dressed in it to go to work for the day. (sans slippers of course).

Another important lesson I learned: Either I wear pajamas around the house WAY to much and Nate thinks they are real clothes OR he just isn't paying attention and i can wear pajamas more often.

But Day 4 did not want to be out done by Day 5:

The most embarassing day of them all. So much wrong with this. These gray pants had to have been pulled out of the darkest corner of my closet as they are from my sophomore year of college and only hung around because they are really stretchy and perfect for being pregnant. Great for the last 4 years. Bad for me now. 

And then he pairs it with more gray and..purple?? Yup, purple. So I put it on and come downstairs and Nate says: "That looked better than I pictured it". Luckily it was a Saturday but I got dressed to go out in public. I was quite thankful for the cold MN weather as I pretty  much let my coat cover the worst of this up.

The grand finale of this experiment was the evening of Day 5--we were headed out on a rare date and I told Nate to dress me 'nice for a nice event'...and he did GOOD! Sweater dress and tights.

My favorite highlights of this process:

• Nate starting at two dresses--one CLEARLY a winter dress and one CLEARLY a summer dress and not being able to make the decision..like he had forgotten the weather was currently 2 degrees with a -15 windchill.
• Nate opened my drawer of leggings and tights and promptly shut it saying: "I assume you can just pick these out..but I want credit for knowing you need them."

So now I am back to dressing myself and I have to say if I had to do it all over again I probably wouldn't do it right as I start a  new job as the way to impress your new boss is definitely NOT by wearing pajamas to work, but I seem to have come through it.

I have some serious purging of my closet to do because there were palpable moments of cringing as he considered options.

Also, men don't understand accessories. Or shoes.