If you’ve been keeping up with the recent blog posts, you’ve read about how Jenn and Fatima were preparing for Eye Ball. For the women out there, those posts were full of helpful hints and lovely pictures of dresses and accessories. For the guys out there, it was an unprecedented look into the female mind showing just how much effort goes into looking fabulous. Now how about an examination of the event from a guy’s perspective?
We all knew about the event for months, we’d selected our dinner entrees weeks in advance, and people have been buzzing about outfits since I found out I was accepted. So what did that mean for my close group of guy friends? The week of the event, it was go time. We’d waited until the last possible moment, something I have a knack for, and had to throw something together that actually looked presentable. One proactive roommate bought a polka dot shirt online a week or two before and another friend bought a new suit the morning of the event (apparently his old one was sporting a few holes), but for the most part it was time to raid the closet.
Trying to emulate the bold looks of Dr. Augsburger
Now I’ve been tempted to wear a bowtie ever since I first met ICO’s president, Dr. Augsburger. I have never seen Dr. Augsburger without that finely tied adornment and I must say he’s always looking quite good. I’ve expressed my desire often enough that I was given a set of bowties as a gift this past Christmas, and figured what better chance for a debut showing? Two hours before we were supposed to be leaving I stood in front of my closet, staring at my collection of dress shirts and blazers. I spoke briefly with my roommates about what color shirts they were wearing just so we didn’t all match. That didn’t help because for the most part everyone else was also undecided. I started by holding various bowties up to shirts, noticing that without a vest I would look more like a waiter than anything. Glancing up, I realized that I had bought a blue cardigan not too long ago. Perfect. That meant the black suit was out of the picture, leaving the blue blazer as my only option. Since I didn’t have matching pants, khakis it was and the outfit was complete. The hardest part was selecting which color bowtie looked the best, and after asking a few of the ladies who had wandered down already dressed, the consensus was to be bold with the standout red.
The fine-looking ICO bloggers!
Now that the outfit was selected it was a quick shower and shave, taking care to not cut myself, and lastly after changing was the hair. Now it’s not everyday that I fuss with my hair. In fact, I believe I’ve had the same container of hair putty for years. Yes, it’s called hair putty–I even double-checked because I didn’t know what to call it. As I’m sure all women know, hair can be fickle and it can take forever to get it looking perfect. Just for that reason I believe the less time spent messing with it the better. Rub a little of the hair gel into your mop, mess it all up, then run your hand through it a few times and voilà! Done. One extra flick of the bangs to the side to be looking extra fancy and it was time to go. So how long did I spend in total getting ready, including planning the outfit? Well all in all it took about 30 minutes, which is about three times longer than I spend most mornings. I’m sure many guys take a lot longer, myself included sometimes, and I’m also sure that many guys can be ready even quicker than myself. So all in all do guys have it easier than girls with prepping for these events? Most assuredly. We really do try to clean up nice, but we also know that it’s the women who always take the cake for looking beautiful (just take a look at the image above left). It’s just our job to look respectable!