A first date can be a difficult experience if you don’t know what’s in store for you; a first date can be made even worse if you’re spending the majority of your date concerned with your choice of outfit rather than listening to your date.  To prevent a wardrobe disaster and to create a fashion wonder, follow these simple tips.

1. Shopping Alone

The very first fashion rule for any man should be not to shop alone, take a friend, a sister, a mom, a cousin, even your neighbour; just don’t go it alone. If you’re unsure of the current trends, the colours that best suit you or if you don’t know the difference between chinos and trousers, you aren’t capable of shopping alone.

The majority of shop assistants and sales consultants work on a commission basis, this means that you could be as poorly as Jared Leto, and still the assistants will tell you that you look incredible. By taking a friend you eliminate the risk of buying clothes that don’t suit you; request their honest opinion and let them guide your tastes.

2. Does it Fit?

The majority of men make the same fatal mistake – just because you can get into that old pair of jeans or your dad’s jumper; doesn’t mean it fits and that you should wear it. Where a first date is concerned you should wear clothing that reveals your figure without being too tight, on the other hand keep in mind that baggy clothing is a no.

By wearing baggy clothing you’re effectively stating that you don’t care about your appearance and therefore you have a poor attitude – this isn’t the impression that you want to give!

3. Sneakers and Shoes

It would be considered wise of you to invest in a decent, stylish pair of shoes, and when I say shoes, I mean shoes not sneakers, sandals or slippers. It’s well known that women love shoes, because of this it’s incredibly likely that they are going to take into account the shoes that you are wearing and part of the first impression will be judged upon your choice of footwear. Shoes should be fairly formal but not so formal that they couldn’t be worn with your best pair of dark jeans.

4. Jeans, Joggers or Shorts?

Before you can decide what you’re going to wear on your bottom half you need to know the setting of your first date. If the date is casual, such as a walk in the park or lunch at a café there should be no problem with you wearing something casual such as shorts.

If you’re going for drinks, a meal or to the movies you should take a little care with your outfit and consider wearing your smartest jeans. At no point should formal trousers or tracksuit bottoms cross your mind, tracksuit bottoms are for lazy days and DIY, whereas formal trousers should be saved for weddings and other formal events.

5. Carry Your Confidence

I recommend that you carry something on your person that will inspire confidence; this could be something as simple as a lucky charm in the form of a watch or your favourite belt. You could aim to wear something that has a story to it as then it can be talked about to fill awkward silences.

However, as lucky as your favourite charm may be, it should match with your outfit, if you’re wearing your best shoes and smartest jeans a vibrant belt isn’t appropriate and may alter the impression that you are trying to give on your first date.

There are many other aspects of your outfit that you should take into consideration when going on a first date, if you’re struggling for inspiration or are stuck for what to wear there are plenty of guides online and your local shopping mall will be filled with mannequins that are draped in the latest threads.

Author: Brett Harding is the managing director for Lovestruck, an online dating website. Brett understand that first dates and even second dates can be stressful experiences; because of this Brett spends a lot of his time giving advice and writing guides on the best ways to achieve a successful date.