He talked trash about Dante in a whole. He said he would get laughed at if he was to walk in a bar. He said the old Dante wasnt cool.
He meant in terms that people in general don't dress like Dante does. The game's set in a place like our modern world, just if there were demons in it. I'm not sure if that will continue being the case after Limbo merged with the real world [and Dante getting his white hair, implying who he is on the road of becoming] but in the realm of this game or at least the world it was portraying, yes Classic Dante would've been laughed at and raised some eyebrows by how he dressed and looked [excluding the alternate DMC3 costume which doesn't play into the plot like the other costumes don't]. If judgement on his looks would continue being the case now mankind is aware of demons and where things might wind up going [since we know how things go from the state of the world in the originals] that might not be entirely so, at least from hair perspective. But if you think about it, there are people out there who are born with naturally white hair [not the thing where you get pale skin, I forgot name, or might've been grey hair] but it is extremely rare. However I don't believe the hair was the main focus in this.
In terms of garments however, I doubt DmC Dante will ever dress as flashy as Classic Dante, because his clothes, like many characters in the series, were rich and expensive looking in both design and detail, not something many, like us as people, could easily come by. DmC Vergil was the exception because he had money,
lots of it, so he could get away with an expensive looking coat with intricate designs sewn onto it. And it's no doubt if he showed up again he looked just as flashly like his original counterpart.
But yeah, the comment wasn't meant out of offensive by any means. Although unfortunately anything Ninja Theory says nowadays gets tainted like blood, so...