An unfair edge

A colleague congratulated me with a beaming smile “…so you have permanently ditched the suit and tie, you are one of us now”. I just smiled and nodded. I realized I haven’t donned my armor (yes any man who has taken the sartorial adventure will testify to that) for nearly 6 months. Track pants and polo shirts are my daily drivers now (or whenever I need to step outside), repugnant scandals have taken over my feet, and my trusty dress watch have been relegated to the back of the drawer by a plastic watch and to top it all off the face mask has staked a claim to the lower half of my face. For the curious my trunks reign supreme….sunshine or rain there is no beating those bad boys!

I have always been the person who is comfortable sporting a two piece and a silk tie on any given day. It is not a matter of how they look but how they make me feel. I am not advocating for all men and women to turn into suit zombies, but to simply dress well. Dressing well does not mean buying expensive labels and designer clothes, by dressing well I simply mean…..to dress well. Studies after studies have shown that people who are dressed well feel more confident, empowered and are generally well perceived by people around them. Want to make a good first impression? Dress well. Want to gain an unfair edge? Dress well. People see you before they hear you. That goes for Zoom calls as well- put on a crisp top before turning the camera on. 

We all heard the saying "Don't judge a book by its cover." or only shallow people judge by the look of one’s clothes. As humans we are constantly taking in information available and making decisions. To make the decision making process faster we take in cues to arrive at judgement. Let’s say you walk into a new neighborhood and are in need of directions. There are two people standing on the corner of the road – one dressed sharp and the other like a hillbilly. Who do you trust for the directions? (Pro tip: use Google maps)

The bar for dress standards are abysmally low these days- this has been exacerbated by tech millionaires. Young execs want to dress like the Zuckerbergs, Dorseys (or is it Dorseies?) and Jobs (or Jobses?) because they are apparently too busy changing the world to bother to think what they look like. Take a closer look at Zuckerberg, Dorsey and Jobs – they have their own specific dress codes. They are consciously choosing to dress in a specific way, they have ingrained their specific dress codes into their personal brands. Still think they don’t care?

As for my armor I haven’t ditched them – they are just tucked away for the pandemic to be over. Can’t bear to expose them to the harsh dry cleaning solvents every day! Post covid me and my boys are getting out.