Allie Pleiter: this girl IS crazy 'bout a Sharp-Dressed Man

Today, I took my husband shopping for clothes.  Like most engineers, he’s more concerned with function than form, and while no one would call him “nerdy,” no one would call him “stylish,” either.   

He’s his own man, but we all know there’s a universal truth at work here:  when a married man dresses well everyone credits him, but when he dresses poorly they blame the wife.  Fair?  Hardly, but there you have it.  Certain standards must be kept if we’re both to keep our heads held high.  He’s got a basic sense--but honestly, how wrong can a sentient man go in a closet full of Dockers in neutrals and button-down oxfords?  It’s essentially “choose one from column A (being Dockers) and one from column B (being shirts).”

Funny thing is, all manner of things can go wrong when my 15 year old son applies the same formula--column A being “nerd shirts” (which are any t-shirt advertising a computer game, science concept, sci-fi movie or tv show) and column B being jeans.  

In twenty-three years of marriage, I can count the number of times I’ve sent my husband back his closet one one hand.  I send my son back at least once a week.

Sigh.  I love the males in my life, but there’s a reason I drool over James Bond.  An impeccably dressed man is my favorite fantasy.  Cowboys are okay, muscles have their place, but a man in a perfectly cut Italian suit with a gazillion-dollar watch would send my pulse racing.  Is that shallow?  Absolutely, but we are talking fantasy here.  

I spend a lot of time thinking about what the men in my books are wearing.  FALLING FOR THE FIREMAN’s Chad Owens had to have the stiff feel of a uniform without every being seen in one.  In my upcoming book HOMEFRONT HERO, WWI Army Captain John Gallows is all about the uniform.  All this attention to male dress has me wondering--do you notice the wardrobes of heroes in books?  How would you dress your ultimate man?