Whilst having healthy well-groomed hair will definitely help, there is a lot more to the concept of dressing for success than meets the eye. It may involve something as drastic as completely changing your physical appearance! Or it may involve just a few minor tweaks to your wardrobe. Here is a guide to successful looking guy dressing.
First of all though, when someone says ‘dress for success’ what exactly do they mean? Typically it means to improve your appearance so as to give the impression that you’re more professional, more determined and more ambitious or driven to succeed. The term is usually applied to dressing for work but it is equally as applicable in social situations as well.
So why would a guy want to appear more ambitious and more professional? After all, one of the things we’re often told is not to judge a book by its cover because appearances can be deceptive. Therefore, it really shouldn’t matter what you look like. Should it? There shouldn’t be anything wrong with dressing for comfort and expecting to be taken seriously as an ambitious, career driven individual. After all, clothes don’t maketh the man, or the person.
Unfortunately, much as we’d like to believe otherwise, humans are programmed to take notice of first impressions. A LOT of notice! Therefore, if you want someone’s first impression of you to be that you’re a highly successful person you need to look successful. You need to give off an aura of success. Looking successful engenders a certain amount of trust in you as an individual. It means you’ll generally be treated with respect, at least initially. Obviously you also need to live up to those first impressions if you want to continue being treated with respect, and keep people’s trust. On the other hand, if you look like you live on the streets and haven’t had a shower, a shave and a clean change of clothes in goodness knows how long, you will invariably find many people treat you accordingly. It’s sad but it’s also reality.
Dressing For Success – What’s Your Why
Now we’ve established that if you want to give the impression of being successful you need to look the part, let’s look at why you might want to appear that way. Perhaps you work, or want to work, in a high-powered industry where you need to impress clients and your bosses. In which case, dressing for success in the workplace is going to be your ‘why’. How you do this will depend on whether or not your company, or the company you want to work for, has a dress code. If not, the general rule of thumb is generally elegant, formal and professional.
Perhaps you’re chasing a promotion or a raise. Dressing for success at work, along with knowing that you do a great job and deserve the raise or promotion, is important. It gives you self-confidence; you know you’re not only good at your job but you also look the part. You’re a successful, valuable member of the team. Why would your boss not give you a raise or a promotion!
On the other hand perhaps you simply like feeling good about yourself. Many people who work from home and have no need to dress to impress still make an effort to dress for success. They find it helps them feel more successful and puts them in the right frame of mind to work. It keeps them motivated and feeling businesslike because, let’s face it, when you work from home there are usually plenty of distractions!
Dressing for success can also help in social situations. Perhaps you like attending social functions to network for business purposes. In which case looking successful and self-confident can only work in your favour. Maybe you’re on the look out for that significant ‘other’ in your life. Many women are attracted to self-confident, successful looking guys, and perhaps not so attracted to someone who looks like they live in their clothes and can’t be bothered making an effort with their appearance when they go out in public. It makes them wonder what else he can’t be bothered doing! This gets back to those all-important first impressions we talked about earlier.
How To Achieve That Successful Well-Dressed Man About Town Look
Starting from the top…..
Obviously we can help with the hair part. If you feel that your hair, or lack thereof, is letting down your appearance and undermining your self-confidence, get in touch with us. Your hair after all is an important part of your personality and knowing that it looks healthy and well groomed is a big confidence booster. And when you feel confident, you look confident!
Next on the agenda is wardrobe. It doesn’t have to cost you the equivalent of a down payment on your first house to dress for success! You can look the part on a budget. Whether you want to go for the elegant, professional, formal look or smart and casual, you have numerous options.
Obviously there are the high-end options, which includes custom-made suits from the world’s finest tailors but most of us need to take a more economical approach. Even so, there are any number of retailers both online and offline, who sell good quality, affordable fashionable clothing. Just shop around a bit and find out where the best deals are to be had. Another tip is to keep your eye open for sales. You can often pick up good quality shirts, ties and other accessories at amazing prices at end of season or end of financial year sales.
One thing we do highly recommend is sticking to colours and styles that never go out of fashion. You can always dress up a plain shirt with a trendy tie, which can be replaced by the next trendy tie that comes along. It may not be quite as economical though to keep replacing your shirts because they’ve gone out of fashion.
Shoes – shoes are also important for the well-dressed successful looking guy dressing. A pair of nice leather, or leather look-alike if you’re against the use of animal products, formal shoes never goes astray. But make sure they’re comfortable. Badly fitting shoes and sore feet are not part of dressing for success!
If we can help you with your hair, get in touch!
