Dress to Impress

Have you ever walked into a room, looked around, and then had the sinking feeling that you are waaaaaay under dressed? I know I’ve been there, but if you haven’t don’t worry because more than likely it’s going to happen to you too.

Dressing comfortable and casual is really nice and I do it all the time, its pretty much what I always wear when I’m home. But when we are out with people, and especially when we are going to any sort of event, we have to ensure we aren’t under dressed.

When you see someone that’s way under dressed what do you typically think of? What often pops into my mind is that they are lazy, unprepared, they don’t care about how they look. As a result of all of these negative thoughts I’m naturally going to be less likely to want to engage with them. You may think “well Anthony that’s just because you’re bitter and mean” but that’s not it, its wired into our subconscious mind, so like it or not you will tend to stray away from those people as well.

On the other hand, when you see someone who is really well put together and looks great, you are more likely to gravitate towards that person and naturally respect them.

Expect the Unexpected

Whenever you leave home you never know who you are going to run into. An old friend, a future boss, or maybe meeting your future wife could happen anytime and anywhere. Would you rather their first impression of you be in sweats or something nicer? Even if you are wearing jeans and tennis shoes you can still make sure you look put together instead of like a mess, and that can make all the difference with first impressions.

But you can go too far when it comes to dressing up to…

The Dichotomy

There is a dichotomy when it comes to dressing up, because it is possible to get too dressed up for things. Don’t show up to gym class in a full suit, but also don’t show up in stained and torn clothing. You don’t want to over dress to the point where you come across as a snob, jerk, or someone who isn’t any fun.

The majority of the time you know how you should dress and what the standard is, it’s an issue of holding yourself accountable to maintain that standard, and then try to rise just above it.

Don’t go so far above the standard that it causes people to resent you, but go far enough to where you differentiate yourself in a positive way. If the typical attire for an event is khakis and a polo then maybe you substitute the polo for a nice button down, but not a full on suit.

Sometimes you will be flying blind into an event and not know how you should dress. For those kinds of things, I typically aim to the upper bound of what I think the dress code could be, and am then prepared to dress down some when I get there. This could mean that I show up in a full suit and tie, but if no one is in suits then I can quickly lose the jacket and tie, and now I’m dressed nice for the event but not so nice that it’s a negative.

Now, why do we still find ourselves preferring to dress casual? I think a big part of the reason is because we favor the familiar and shy away from the unknown. When you never wear nice clothes you don’t associate them with your identity, so whenever you wear them it feels like you aren’t being genuine, you aren’t being yourself, or that something is wrong.

Get Comfortable Wearing Nice Clothes

This one was difficult for me because I hated dress clothes and loved my t-shirts and gym shorts. It really wasn’t until college that I realized just how much of a difference wearing nice clothes makes.

Wearing nice clothes can be a huge boost to your confidence, people will look at you differently and you will also feel better. Running back Deion Sanders used to say “you look good, you feel good, you play good” and this applies to more than just sports. When I was in college, I would always dress in nicer clothes than normal for exams for this same exact reason. I also found excuses to dress up, such as for tailgating or going out with friends.

I wasn’t wearing suits or anything, but I was slowly getting comfortable wearing nicer and nicer cloths. I was beginning to change my internal narrative from “I look weird in dress cloths” to “dang bro you look goooood”.

That little shift in what I wore lead to me feeling a little more confident, a little more relaxed, which lead others to look at me and treat me a little more like I knew what I was doing. This in turn further boosted my confidence so that by the time I was going into the exam, or going out, or doing whatever, I was calm, cool, collected, and feeling good (at least most of the time).

In turn this confidence boost will help in all areas of your life. You will come off as more approachable and fun to those around you, and you will have an easier time interacting with people and making new friends.

So, get out there and start getting used to nicer cloths, dress to impress, and be confident. Good luck.