If you ever wondered about the impact of clothes, read this.
I wear hoodies (a sweatshirt with a hood) because they are comfortable, and have they a built-in hat.
I wear sweater vests, because they soften my image…I think.
Over the years, I’ve noticed a very basic, startling, unbelievable, but consistent phenomenon about this sweater vest / hoodie dynamic. I’ve noticed that when I wear a hoodie, people rarely say hello to me even when I say hello first. In fact, many people frown at me if they look my way at all. People disregard me, disparage me, and disrespect me. Hard to accept, but true. The hoodie on me, a salt-and-pepper haired forty-something, makes me considerably less appealing to many people.
On the other hand, when wearing a sweater vest, I’m received considerably differently than when I wear a hoodie. I am taken as a more affable person. People offer salutations to me when I wear sweater vests (and cardigans.) They hold doors for me. They return my smiles. Not as hard to accept, equally as true.The sweater vest makes me appear more likeable, I think.
Therefore, I wear sweater vests with much more frequency. Sometimes I add a tie.
In the capacity of a consultant, I rarely wear a hoodie.
In the capacity of a comedian, I wear either - usually a sweater vest, though.
I’m the same salt-and-pepper forty-something, with the same jeans, the same Timbs boots, the same overbite and mustache, but the hoodie seems to turn me into one thing and the sweater vest seems to turn me into another.
Clothes don’t make the man, but boy do they make an impression!
Rue Dooley, SHRM-SCP has been an HR Knowledge Advisor for SHRM for over 20 years and has plenty of HR experience as a practitioner and consultant. Rue has daily direct contact with HR professionals around the world, helping them to create solutions, to improve systems, and to find and use resources that improve the delivery of the HR function. Rue has authored and co-authored numerous articles on a variety of subjects; conducted webcasts and podcasts; created videos, and has been quoted in various media outlets.
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