Should We Start Dressing For Tinder?

 

 

Turns out there’s more to Tinder then a digital abyss that allows for approach or be approached by someone anonymous who piqued your interest based solely on the superficial circumstances of your physical appearance.

I’ve heard many a disaster and success story pertaining to the app but never had the chance to give it a go, for obvious reasons. It’s not that I’m against the dating/ meeting/ hookup/ sexting app, it’s just that I’ve been in a three year relationship and did not have the pleasure of being single in a Tinder drenched world.

I did have my very first experience with Tinder this past weekend. I know, I know I live under a rock.  I was on my friends account as a kind of personal cyber matchmaker. I’ve always found dating so much easier when I was removed from the process.

“Right means like, left means you don’t” was the only bit of advice she gave me at the beginning of our vigorous swiping session. Of course I didn’t have total freedom (she was perched over my shoulder the entire time). When a handsome fellow, at least what she deemed handsome, popped up she halted me to explore other pictures for visual clues into his personality. “Ugh A suit. No thanks too Wall Street.” she proclaimed before moving on to the next option, “Shirtless at a bar, get a job man.”

Yesterday I was reminded of this experience after reading an article about Tinder in the Thursday Style section of the New York Times, Tinder Taps an Age-Old Truth. The article proved my mom to be right, it’s not all about looks, “Research shows when people are evaluating photos of others, they are trying to access compatibility on not just a physical level, but a social level,” said Jessica Carbino, Tinder’s in-house dating and relationship expert. “They are trying to understand, ‘Do I have things in common with this person?’ ”

After reading the article over coffee and a chocolate biscotti, I got to thinking about how a guy’s Tinder style can reveal certain aspects of his character. Of course style revealing character isn’t a new thought, but for some reason when looking at a series of only three images, his specific style volume gets cranked.

Of course Tinder pictures aren’t a result of a thought out, meticulously planned photo session and perhaps one doesn’t take serious notice into what they’re wearing and what insights those select fashion choices give into their personality.  Instead time is spent uploading images posing with Kayne, or Obama or holding a cute child, giant trout or dog.

We live our lives online and therefore can tell everything about a person through a series of images thanks to Mark Zuckerbergmuch, much like in a pre-social networking world we could decipher a person through their body language. In a sea of normal-looking dudes wearing blue button downs, straight-leg, dark washed denim and bad loafers (click here for some good loafers) the douchebags clad in sunglasses after 7PM and tight Burberry polos from 2006 really float to the top.