What men should wear on a first date

Wear something he has worn before. A first date is the worst possible occasion to debut a garment, because new clothes make people move differently and it shows. Confidence reads across a table; a shirt he keeps adjusting also reads across a table.

Beyond that: fit over brand, plain over patterned, and one considered detail rather than five.

Dark jeans, a plain t-shirt or a knit, and a jacket. Leather if he has one, something unstructured if he does not. Clean white leather sneakers are acceptable here and only here.

This is the easiest of the three and the one most men over-think.

Trade the t-shirt for a collar and the sneakers for loafers. That is the entire adjustment. A knit over a collared shirt with dark trousers is correct in essentially every restaurant that does not require a tie.

Fragrance is worth more here than anywhere else, because dinner is two hours at conversational distance. Two sprays before leaving, nothing sweet unless it is winter.

Daytime dates are the hardest because there is nothing to hide behind. Plain trousers or good denim, a shirt or plain tee, and the one accessory that does the most work in daylight: sunglasses. They change a face more than any garment, and they cost less than most jackets.

Anything with a slogan. Anything he bought that week. Too much fragrance — the most common single mistake, and the one people are politest about. Sunglasses indoors. And an outfit that is obviously more formal than the venue, which reads as trying too hard in a way that under-dressing does not.