All in the eye of the beholder? This is what your clothes say about you

I always like to observe changes that clothes can make. I had a client who used to meet me at Wednesday 3 pm. He would come straight from work. Our coaching would be very focused. Once we agreed to move to a Saturday early morning. He came in the usual Saturday clothes. Something had changed. It went on for two-three sessions. Both of us realised something was not working out. We went back to Wednesday afternoons. I never attributed it to the clothes, till I recently came across some cutting edge research on clothes.

Clothes have played a rather subtle part in the history of humanity. Your clothes and more particularly the colour of the clothes indicate your power and status.

For example, purple robes were associated with royalty since 1570 BC. There is a reason for purple to be accorded the status. The “Tyrian purple” dye was made from secretions of predatory sea snails found in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Given the exotic ingredients, the cost was prohibitive and, therefore, subsidised by the royal family for their nobles. What made the dye special was that it did not fade with time. Instead, it became brighter with sunlight and weathering. Over the centuries, we started associating purple with royalty.

Such associations continued. We then had uniforms. Armies and officials would wear uniforms to distinguish themselves not only in the battlefield but also to distinguish themselves from the civilian population. The tradition of donning uniforms became common. The most interesting use of a uniform was in the field of medicine. Susan Hardy in her book Dressed to heal – The Changing Semiotics of Surgical Dress explains how, until the nineteenth century, medicine was practiced by mystics, druids, and even quacks. Physicians and doctors in the new field of allopathy wanted to present themselves as scientists because their field was driven by scientifically measured impact. Hence they donned the lab coat. The tradition of wearing the lab coat continues.

Clothes are indeed in the eyes beholder. When you see someone in a white lab coat, it does portray a certain image of competence, being organised, and authority.

Even if it is the ever so funny Patch Adams.

Research on the perceptions of clothing throws up some fascinating insights.

— Customer Service Agents who are appropriately dressed elicit higher purchase intention.

— Clients prefer therapists who are formally dressed rather than casually dressed.

— High school students’ dressing style indicates the perceptions of academic prowess among peers and teachers alike.

— Teachers who are formally dressed are perceived as more intelligent but less interesting.

The question that arises is whether the beauty in the eyes of the beholder or the wearer?  

Do clothes maketh the man?

Barbara Fredrickson developed the Objectification Theory which posits that “girls and women are typically acculturated to internalise an observer's perspective as a primary view of their physical selves”.

In her research, she found that a woman wearing a bikini is more likely to perform worse in a mathematics test, eat less, and suffer higher mental health risks such anxiety than women wearing a cardigan. The bathing suit diverted the minds of the wearers to the physicality of her body.  The wearer was forced to live up to the ideals of being a feminine woman.

It is just not about women. Research shows that sports teams wearing black are more likely to be aggressive. 

You might think that advertising professionals like to dress casually. So there is something about black being a colour of mystery and strength, but more of that later.

Let’s go back to the lab coat.  Adam Galinsky and Hajo Adam, wanted to test if wearing the white laboratory coat wielded some magical powers. He had participants come into their laboratory to participate in an experiment. Half of them were told that the laboratory was being painted and they were required to wear a white lab coat. The other half wore their usual casual clothes. The participants were given a selective attention test.

What they found is that the participants wearing the lab coat made half as many errors as those wearing casual clothes.

So was it something to do with the material, design, or cut of the coat? They did another test, where all the participants were given exactly the same coat. Half the participants were told that the coat was the same coat worn by doctors. The other half was told that the coat was an artist’s coat.  Once again the participants wearing the doctor’s coat made half as many errors as the painter’s coat.

In their third experiment, the participants were only shown a doctor’s coat but they did not wear the coat. In this case, there was no difference between the people who had previously worn the lab coat and the ones who had not. Therefore it was important to actually don the magical coat.  Galinsky and Hajo called this “enclothed cognition”. Wearing a coat which held a symbolic value increased the attention span of the wearer.

Enclothed cognition has two parts, the first part is the symbol behind the clothes and the second part is the physical act of wearing the clothes.

Our bodies and what we wear influences our brains. Our brains and bodies both are involved in our thought processes. We become the clothes we wear.

Dress up a child in a superman costume or a Mahatma Gandhi costume, and you might see a difference for a few hours.

So how can you use enclothed cognition?

Sometimes, I love wearing tall boots. It does give me a sense of power. While meeting clients, I always wear a suit. While on a consulting assignment, I am usually in a white shirt with a grey suit. While conducting client offsites, I might wear a linen blazer with a black t-shirt. It was just luck.

A study Peluchette and Katherine Karl found that participants felt a sense of authority, trustworthiness, and competent when they wearing formal business attire. On the other hand, they felt friendlier while wearing casual or business casual attire. 

First, consider yourself as a brand. What is the brand statement that you wish to make? Your clothes are a faithful representation of your personal brand. Remember your personal brand might be different at work, at home and with friends.

Second, look at your wardrobe. Do not leave any item unexamined.  What does each shoe, belt, tie, scarf, cufflink, broach, and bag remind you? Which clothes feel powerful? Which ones make you look friendly and charming?

‘Fashion psychologist’ Jennifer Baumgartner recommends that you look through your wardrobe and identify how each of your clothes makes you feel. "The clothing you put on your back is an incredibly accurate indicator of what you think of yourself and your life," says Baumgartner 

In her book You Are What You Wear: What Your Clothes Reveal About You, she talks about some of the perceptions you might have about your clothes.

Baumgartner has developed a very useful table to examine your relationship with your clothes,

Consider your accessories like ties and scarves:

You should match the colour of your tie/scarf to the facet of your brand you wish to highlight.

— Blue indicates someone who is loyal, intelligent, and honest

— Green brings about a feeling of being efficient, calm, and peaceful

— A black tie connotes a certain sense of enigma. It shows you are strong, dignified, and mysterious

— Pink is a friendly colour. It shows you are compassionate and easy going

— Red is about power. It connotes raw power.

To conclude, we are a brand with powerful potential. I guess it is up to us to take responsibility for positioning our own brand, first, in our own minds. Having done that, just like a marketing or advertising professional would take great pains over the perfect logo and brand colours, we need to pay equal attention to our own brand presentation. A little bit of research, a little bit of experimentation might make a difference in the way we carry ourselves into the world.

Only we can live and breathe our identities through our clothes. 

The author is the Founder of The Positivity Company, where he helps business leaders become more positive and productive. Birender can be reached on birender.ahluwalia@gmail.com.