Life is simple at our house. My husband tells me what he needs, I ask him what color he wants, and I order it from Lands End or LLBean. We’re both happy because he always looks good, and he’s always comfortable.
If he needs fishing or hunting attire he orders it from Cabela’s or Gander Mt.
I has never occurred to me to drag him through a store and hold shirts up to him as if he were a 6 year old.
DH buys his own everyday clothes and an occasional dress up shirt. Then, some event occurs and he panics about what to wear, claiming he “has nothing appropriate.” This is because he is somehow blind to the items I have purchased, shown to him for his approval and then placed in his closet or drawers. These items hang or sit, folded neatly, underneath or next to the ones he wears continually, over and over, until they look well-weathered and somewhat raggedy.
So, I go to the closet or drawer and calmly show him the items available. He then dresses himself.
Why are those clothes there? Because I shop at a great consignment store, which he won’t even enter. The front of the store and the entire first floor is female clothing. The menswear is upstairs in a back room. He could get estrogen poisoning, ya know!
I simply browse the mens’ section and if I see something wonderful in his size at a great price that I know he would wear, I buy it. All his favorite sweaters are $150 new and $8 on sale 2nd hand in fantastic condition. Yes, he will wear them to stack firewood, but they were $8, so who cares?
The colored dress shirts I buy here and there, on sale. I don’t buy his underwear, t-shirts, slacks or jeans. If he wants to wear Popeye PJs, it doesn’t bother me at all. I do try and make sure he has an extra pair of each type of shoe/slipper he normally wears because otherwise, he will get up in the morning and begin whinging about the flapping sole or the broken stitching in the pair he has worn to death and just ignored until his feet are wet or cold. It is so nice to just direct him to the boxes in his closet with the new shoes/slippers.
We have been together for over 40 years and this works for us. He does care, some of the time, but won’t think ahead. And he has never bought me any clothing. The mere thought sends him into a panic.