Why Image Matters

Many of us feel a certain resistance to the advice that we should aim to look our best at all times.

Maybe you equate being concerned about your appearance with being superficial, contrived, fake, or high-maintenance. Maybe you dislike the underlying attitude of consumerism that it promotes. Maybe you disagree with the advertising agencies and the fashion industry trying to convince us that we aren’t OK without the newest styles and trends in our lives. Maybe you think it is not right or fair to have to spend so much time and money on appearance. If you feel this way, I hear you…because it is partly true. But it is still not an excuse to ignore your image.

A strange paradox exists in the world today. More than ever, we are driven by our need to look younger, sexier, slimmer, healthier, more beautiful. Enormous amounts of money are spent on these pursuits. But at the same time we are seeing a downgrade in the way people present themselves in public. Casual now means deconstructed and distressed: flip-flops, pajama bottoms, torn clothing, sweatshirts and T’s. What is acceptable nowadays would have been embarrassing, to say the least, a generation or two ago. What is going on here? Why the Jekyll & Hyde phenomenon? And what’s more…why should you care?

Everyone dresses to project a certain image. Some more consciously than others. Even the ones who are trying to look like they don’t give a hoot about what others think, yes, even they care. They want others to think that they don’t give a hoot!

We all make decisions about other people based on appearance. And we do it at lightning speed. We are incredibly adept at taking in hundreds of visual cues and making a judgment about a person in roughly 3-8 seconds. Once this impression is made, it takes much, much more information to change that initial judgment. And the scary thing? This all happens subconsciously. We aren’t even aware that it is happening.

And even more so today: In the book Buying In, The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are, author Rob Walker talks about how people are becoming more and more accustomed to using their image to advertise their identity. Your appearance is fast becoming a slogan for the world to read.

This means your appearance instantly affects whether or not others will trust you, sit next to you, talk to you, befriend you, do business with you. Pretty amazing, isn’t it?

Deciding to rebel against “image matters” merely puts you in the category of people rebelling against “image matters”. And people will make assumptions about you and your character based on this categorization.

Is this a bad thing? No…not really. Think of this as an amazing power. Or an art form.

Now on to some more reasons why image matters.

Image Affects Mood

Have you ever heard the advice to “turn that frown upside-down” when you are feeling blue? It works, in part, because the very act of smiling will stimulate the emotions associated with smiling. You can indeed improve your mood with this one small action…even if you don’t feel like doing it at the time..

The same idea can be applied to dressing well. I have heard over and over again, as well as experienced it myself, that one of the best cures for the blues is actually making the effort to look nice. Often when you are sad or depressed, there is the associated feeling of helplessness. Dressing well is taking an action in a positive direction. You are essentially pulling yourself up by the bootstraps, and refusing to give in to the downward spiral of depressing emotions. You end up feeling much more competent and capable, and others will respond to this with like positive emotion.

Image and Your Job

Perhaps you are in a job where you are not required to dress well each day. You work in a casual, laid back environment where image is not a concern, and no one worries about appearance overmuch. Let me urge you not to fall into this trap! No one can predict the future, and there is a distinct possibility that you will not be in this job forever.

Increasingly in today’s society new jobs are secured through networking. It’s who you know and who knows you that matters. Dressing down or too casually at work gives off an impression of a casual, laid-back attitude -- towards your job! You want everyone that you work with to see you as a competent, trustworthy, hard-working person. Because you never know when you will run into the person who might be employing you next. People may think that you are great at what you do, but they would not recommend you for a position that required a radical change of attire. Even though you may be the best qualified. Your image is too strongly associated with what people expect from you.

An interesting poll done recently at Yahho! HotJobs on workplace fashion issues showed that 82% of HR professionals think that how employees dress at works affects their chances of promotion. And 68% of the general workforce agrees.

What does this mean? It means that whether or not you agree, work-place attire matters.

Dressing Well Out of Respect for Others

The idea of dressing well out of respect for others is an increasingly foreign concept in today’s world, although vestiges of this attitude still exist in European countries such as France and Italy.

Nowadays, we still see the echo of this somewhat outdated notion of dressing during special occasions such as weddings or graduations. Think about it - what message are you sending if you show up to a wedding in blue jeans and a T-shirt? Not only would this be the improper attire for the occasion, most would certainly view it as a sign of disrespect towards the bride and groom and all attending.

Interesting, isn’t it, that for some occasions, how we dress conveys respect for others. So… what if you decided that you were going to dress well in your day-to-day affairs out of respect for others? You don’t want to show up to the wedding disrespectfully attired…why show up to life disrespectfully attired? Dressing well every day can give off the impression that everyone you meet is important enough to deserve your best efforts to look nice.

It’s just a thought.

So there you have it in a nutshell: an argument for why dressing well should matter…to you…and to others.

Jennifer Skinner

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