“Looking good isn’t self importance, it’s self-respect,” Charles Hix.
To sabotage your image, ignore the base reality that we judge strangers, and ourselves alike, in the mirror. We do this within seconds! To damage yourself you might knock your head on a rock, and you decide to wear pajamas to an interview or wear a suit on a casual date. Tim Gunn said that compromising the silhouette, proportion and fit are where most people can damage their image and senses of self.
Your posture supports the silhouette. When you slouch, you tell people you’re timid, and unsure. And when you wear ill-fitting clothing this says you’re awkward and have a weak sense of yourself.
How many of us have cast our eyes upon the motley sight of someone frumpy? They exemplify this ignorance of the power of image. Clothing is a communications medium. We forget and tend to ignore this because we dress ourselves every day, and then feel less pressure about the message our clothing sends.
Young people often fall prey to this! When you’re young, you’re often self-conscious and unsure. For good and ill, fashion can be shallow. We all are.
“A well-tailored suit is to women what lingerie is to men.” – Unknown
To fix this is a simple matter of paying attention, and caring about the pettiness of image. Doing this can improve your first impression and help you to win friends and influence people.
For example, to wear tennis shoes with your suit sabotages the image. And yet famous men who host shows do this! The reminds of the men who need to know better, but who are sick to death of the style constraint of wearing leather dress shoes with suits. They rebel by wearing things like high-tops! This, although sneakers clash with suits! They look terrible at the bottom of suits. Many of these men are educated and work on-screen. But in most cases, they took a fool’s advice!
When you dress with flair you know and feel this and express your confidence.
Despite what young anti-business idealists, like hipsters, want to believe, there isn’t a legion of beauties swooning over men who are so idealistic that they stink and wear their hair matted.
Look at soldiers and marines for an examples of how to convey a command presence. You see an erect posture, clean and creased cloth, and shiny shoes.
Antonio Centeno, owner of Real Men Real Style, and a former U.S. Marine Corps captain, makes this point in one of his advice videos for Real Men Real Style. One video introduced this writer to shirt garters!
In our choices we indicate the stature and rank that we have or want without wearing symbols on epaulets. This helps men and women; both wear power suits with accessories that display power. Consider Dr. Madeleine Albright’s book Read My Pins.
When you dress to display these ideas of confidence, competence and power, then people will pay attention long enough to discern your substance. (You hope! We all judge one another, again.) Hopefully they will give you enough time to prove that you might be friendly, trustworthy, reliable and more.
First, you need to pass the first impression inspection.
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