Although we are visual animals in a visual world, many still assume the impact of style was only important at a pimpled age. Unfortunately, this popular notion fails to acknowledge how image and its associations affect us past puberty.
To illustrate this fallacy, take a mental trip to high school. Here in the hallway you see a girl adorned in black articles, make-up, and accessories. What assumptions follow? How do you think opinions, treatment, her reputation, and success in school would be affected? Similarly, what would be said of someone sporting a mini skirt, a bust-bursting tank, and tall leather boots? Despite the identical thought process that stems from perception, many believe what applied then does not apply now [in adulthood]. Reasons for this thinking are the blind belief that since then, our tastes are more refined, our minds and behaviour better developed. And consequently, a world where style overpowers substance rings superficial.
However, as humans we naturally categorise, stereotype, and judge in most areas and every age of our lives. To better magnify this misconception and hopefully heighten style on the priority list, imagine a salesman trying to sell a shabby car. If the car’s bonnet is loose, the windows broken, and the bumpers dangling, you would assume the quality is poor and the car to be a hazard by potentially stopping, breaking, and injuring another on the road. Also, you would suspect the salesman and dealership to be dishonest. So, you tell others to avoid the store, which in turn tarnish the store’s reputation and future financial success.
If image so affects our lives, why would our fashion be any less vital? If we regularly form these associations, assumptions, and opinions, why not apply the same to ourselves? Like the car, we must consider the associations, stereotypes, and opinions, and effects of our style. Just as tight, tacky clothes, caked make-up, and a fried face could indicate insecurity, unintelligence, and a dramatic demeanour, baggy, grungy, and dishevelled may project laziness, carelessness, or poor hygiene.
What you may think of as a superficial stigma is in our wiring. It follows that because of the need of stereotypes and their associations to function, we are also affected by them from the outside in than vice versa. In fact, it is for this reason that make-over shows not only have large fans and rankings, but why the nominees themselves are emotionally affected after what viewing what can result from their visual transformations.
We live in a world where our visual wiring affects image, stereotypes, association, confidence, opportunity, and ultimately propels or inhibits our personal and professional progression. Thus, before blindly snatching the closest and cleanest thing in your closet, take a minute to remember that when you dress well, you feel well, and when you feel well, you do well: so dress well.
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