Man Faces Backlash After Subtly Body Shaming Wife With Clothes He's Making

Mason Joseph Zimmer
Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan standing together in fancy Prohibition-era clothes as Jay Gatsby and Daisy in the Great Gatsby
youtube | Warner Home Video

Although it often comes in the form of fat shaming comments, there are many ways that people can find that others in their life are body shaming them.

And sometimes, these negative attitudes have less to do with the shape of a person's body than its age as it's not unheard of for women in particular to hear that they're too old to wear a bikini anymore or that they have to hide their natural grey hair.

But while the effects of this backlash can be easy to underestimate when it's coming from just anyone, it hurts the most when it's coming from within your own family and especially from your partner.

That's what one man apparently failed to realize when he revealed the reason why he subtly changed up the style of the clothes he's been making for his wife. And people are far from happy about it.

For the past 15 years, the man we're about to hear from has been making clothes as a hobby.

Ted Levine using sewing machine as Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs
youtube | The Criterion Collection

As he explained in a Reddit post, this came after he learned to sew along with his sisters and at the age of 33, he's already making most of his and his 27-year-old wife's clothes.

And in the five years since they've been married, he's gone from making $50,000 to $200,000 annually while she's pulled in a salary of $150,000.

Apparently, that social mobility has come with a new, more conservative friend group and it seems that this fact and the man's own perceptions of aging have influenced his designs.

By that, I mean that when he and his wife were dating, he made her short dresses in bright colors with plunging necklines, which he described as "young" clothing.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan standing together in fancy Prohibition-era clothes as Jay Gatsby and Daisy in the Great Gatsby
youtube | Warner Home Video

As he put it, "My wife and I were both in shape and my designs reflected that."

However, he seems to think they're both now old enough and not in good enough shape for those styles anymore, so he now makes her knee and ankle-length dresses with bishop and juliet sleeves and higher necklines.

And while he didn't explicitly say that the colors were more drab, that seems to be the implication considering how he described their older clothes.

But while he still thinks these designs look fashionable, his wife recently noticed how much they contrasted with the older designs and wondered why he didn't make them anymore.

Reese witherspoon sitting with bemused look on her face in Jackie Kennedy-inspired outfit as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde 2
youtube | 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Considering that she also mentioned that the older clothes don't fit her anymore, this seemed to suggest that she wanted to wear them again.

And when he apparently explained that age and body shape were a big factor in the new designs, he described her as becoming "extremely angry."

While he admitted to not consulting her on what she'd like to wear, he argued that she doesn't have to pay for clothing the way things work now and that he can make whatever she asks for.

However, the vast majority of commenters pointed out that regardless of whether he can make her anything she wants, that's clearly not what he's doing.

man in suit and mustache looking bemused in courtroom in On the Basis of Sex
youtube | Focus Features

They also felt she was right to be upset at his reasoning for doing so. Furthermore, they balked at the implication that's she's not only too out-of-shape for short dresses, but also already too old for them at the age of 27.

As one user said, "He said he makes whatever she asks for but that is such a lie - because she asked for clothes like he used to make her, and he told her no! He also essentially said she was too old and fat."

In the words of another, "Dear God in heaven do you sound absolutely pretentious and shallow. I suppose she could always buy fashions to suit her. But come on. It’s not up to you to police her fashion/style."

h/t: Reddit | hautesociete