About the Site
Hi, I'm Stephen, the founder of this site.
I am on a one-man quest to improve geek fashion.
I'll admit it: I am a Nerd. If you don't believe me, consider the fact that I took the time and effort to create this site. Second, I'm a Graduate Student in the Nerdy field of Medical Imaging. Before that, it was a degree in Computer Engineering.
Lately, things have been looking good for us Nerds. For a while now we've been the smartest guys out there. Recently, we've become the richest. But there is one frontier Nerds have yet to dominate: attracting women.
While most of us will never have the genes to be uber-attractive, there is one part of the attraction equation that we do have control over - how we dress. In this category, however, Nerds fall way, way short.
Fashion4Nerds.com aims to address this last challenge to the Nerd community.
Let me make one thing very clear from the very beginning - I am not a fashion expert. In fact, I wouldn't even say I'm a fashion intermediate. Frankly I think fashion is superficial and completely illogical. In fact, I'd avoid thinking about it entirely if I could. However, although fashion may be illogical - it is also illogical to ignore it. Particularly if you want one of these, and you don't want to be known as one of these.
Given my loathing of fashion, how did I wind up in a position to create this site?
Well, everyone at some time has to buy new clothes. Part of my dislike of shopping stemmed from my indecisiveness when choosing between different items. To alleviate the pressure of having to make a decision, I would pawn the decision off to the closest female (usually a sister) and go with whichever she preferred. Immediately I noticed other women complimenting the exact shirts or pants that were picked out by other females! I didn't have to think about it, and I looked good - I was hooked on this method of shopping!
Over the years I found myself accumulating bits of fashion knowledge from the aforementioned sisters, female friends, and later, girlfriends, about which clothing they found attractive, and more importantly, which clothing they found reprehensible. To my surprise a lot of this advice was common among all women - forming a set of universal 'fashion golden rules.' Thus the idea for this site was born.
"Why should I trust anything on this site?"
What I have done is interview over 30 women (more added every day) between the ages of 18 and 32 about their likes and dislikes when it comes to guys' fashion. I even asked them to give special attention to why they consider us Nerds unfashionable.
If a particular clothing suggestion or fashion 'faux pas' was common to over 3/4 of the women, I added it to the site! It's as simple as that.
The idea is to give Nerds the resources we need to reform our wardrobe and change our reputation as fashion disasters. To that end I have distilled the main points down to some simple, universal rules anyone capable of using a computer should be able to follow. And if you doubt that veracity of these rules, grab the nearest women around you, and see if she doesn't agree with most of the advice on this site.
Note that to many (non-nerd) men a lot of this information would be considered pretty basic - but I'll be honest, a lot of it was news to me. I mean, who cares what kind of wallet I have, or if my belt matches my shoes???!?! But for some reason, when it comes to the fairer sex, it seems to make a difference.
"Who cares how you look, shouldn't a woman love you for your personality?"
The undeniable fact is, when it comes to attracting females, fashion can make-or-break you. The majority of women surveyed said that fashion plays a large role in determining who they are (and most importantly, aren't) initially attracted to.
Yes, we know you have a great personality; but if you look like a slob, you'll have missed your chance before you've even opened your mouth!
You've got to realize that appropriate attire is much more important to women than it is to men. When was the last time you heard some guy commenting on how hot a girl would be - if only her shoes matched her purse? Women, however, notice stuff like this all the time, on both genders.
Hopefully I've convinced you that it's worth making some improvements to your wardrobe. At the very least you could keep a couple of things in mind when you're forced to shop for some new clothes. As I said, it's not technically hard - but I realize for some it may require pushing the boundaries of one's comfort zone. It's worth it though.
And hey , you've got one thing on your side - most male clothing doesn't go out of style very fast, so it's a reasonable investment of your time and effort.
"Who should use Fashion4Nerds.com?"
Currently, the scope of the fashion suggestions on this site will only be useful to a very specific demographic:
- Male
- Heterosexual
- North American
- Between the ages of 18-35
- Interested in attracting 'mainstream' women
I'd love to cover a wider variety of tastes, but for version 1.0 I'll have to limit myself to this audience. So if you roll with a Goth crowd, or are a Japanese teenager, clearly this site will be of limited use to you.
"But I saw Pitt/Clooney/Cruise wearing something you said was a faux pas on this site! If they wear it and get all the girls, why shouldn't I?"
Yes, you can find celebrities and real life studs out there that dress the opposite of every suggestion we've made, and they still get the girls! What gives?
Part of this is just pure good looks (i.e. you could dress George Clooney in spiderman pajamas with a red beanie, and he'd still have girls after him 24/7.)
The other part is what women refer to as being able to 'pull it off.' When surveyed, they would say something like: "never wear a wife-beater, it's just gross... although some guys can pull it off," implying that some men have the ability to wear a usually unattractive article of clothing and look sexy in it. Don't ask me how! So yes, you may be 'one of those guys who can pull it off', but I'm willing to bet that if you're reading this site, you aren't one of those guys.
One last thing.
The suggestions on this site won't give you your own personal 'style'. That's something you'll have to develop entirely on your own - or just do without. But at the very least this site will save you from causing women to comment "what is he wearing???" when you enter the room. And who knows, by avoiding the common nerd fashion faux pas, you might even get a couple more dates.
Best of luck.
Stephen
To read more about Fashion4Nerds.com, and the trials and tribulations of running an AdSense supported site, check out the Founder's Blog.