Last month, I saw a picture of a model in a magazine that piqued my interest. The model was, get this – wearing her shirt tucked in! I was fascinated. Could I pull that off? Is that on-trend? Who does that?! There was only one way to find out – I subjected myself to a month-long challenge of wearing shirts only tucked in. Here’s what happened:
At the start, my life was drastically similar to how it had always been. I went to work, drank coffee, came home, et cetera. But I could feel the stares. Occasionally, people would make comments like, “oh, you’re tucking your shirts in now” or “something seems different about you – did you used to tuck your shirt in like that?” The response was astonishing. People were having really strong reactions, both positive and negative. One person would say “nice outfit” and another would say, “it’s kinda weird to tuck in a sweatshirt like that.” Turns out people are strongly for or against shirt-tucking, never in between.
Tucking in my shirt for a whole month was a lot of work. First of all there’s the tucking – it starts in the morning and has to be repeated every time you go to the bathroom or remove your pants (I had no idea!). Tucking involves a lot of stuffing your shirt downwards and into the waist of your pants or skirt and making sure you go all the way around your body from front to back. Then there’s the physics of the tucking. You have to choose a shirt that goes all the way down to whatever pants or skirt your wearing. No crop tops! So there went half my wardrobe. Finally, there’s your visible waistband, which you could to put an attractive belt on, or just leave plain – this decision was agonizing!
Now that my one-month challenge is over, I wonder: was it worth all the attention and controversy? It’s hard to say. Will I keep tucking in? Maybe sometimes. In my experienced opinion, the decision to tuck in a shirt should be based on the type of shirt you’re wearing, what you’re wearing with it, what is most flattering on your body, and what your personal tastes are. You don’t have to be all or nothing on tucking. Experiment!
My coworkers seem to be relieved that my shirt tucking experiment is over. Now that the comments and discussions have finally died down, people are back to asking me about my barrettes (of which I wear many and often). So go for it, mix it up and try tucking! And let me know how it goes for you!
