Business of Dressing

There is always a lot of discussion around dressing sense, or rather lack of it. I notice many people are even worried about repitition of dresses when they step out to go to any public gathering, a company meeting or a family function.

Unless its an event showcasing a fashion designers new clothing line hence directly related to the profession, rest of us can perhaps learn to not break our heads on this issue.

Remember that Gandhi with a loincloth evokes lot more admiration in the world than a dapper looking Hitler.

From startups to spirituality,

both dressing-up or dressing-down is a big personal branding exercise.

By the way, choosing a nice looking dress is not easy. Not everyone is endowed with the perfect dress sense, if there is one such. Some are naturally fashionable. For some, their personal choices may not align with popular perception. Add to it things like personal tastes, local culture and weather, audience in your cult, and even perhaps difficulties like color blindness.

A simple white shirt that looks great on those perfectly shaped models in the pictures, may not look the same on a poor startup founder who has not hit the gym and worked on his/her abs for a while. If choosing a perfect dress was that simple, you won’t find so many long queues and frustrated shoppers at the trial rooms.

Perhaps it explains why many people once they find that perfect ensemble, repeat the same for their entire lives. In the process it becomes their personal brand and gets a cult status. It saves them the time and headache in the beginning and once the person is famous, changing it even costs them personal branding.

Personally speaking, I spent a good amount of my life in a place where the popular belief held the length of pant on my legs as inversely proportional to the amount of grey matter in my brain. I also was in places where the person with dapper suit and jacket were considered the worthy of all attention.

So you see, it matters and also differs.

For great majority, they are doing fine and don’t need to break heads about this topic. It is the outliers, as in most cases, when there is a discussion.

If you are on one extreme with naturally endowed dress sense and like to dress up, go ahead and experiment and the world is your oyster. But if you happen to be on the other side, just invest some time to find a good pair you are comfortable with or take the advice of a good friend* and repeat it for your lifetime. If you become successful, you become the brand. If not, at least you saved time spent in those trial rooms.

Let your product and action lead. Sooner or later your dress sense follows and you get the wisdom to choose the correct dress that ensures your success based on your goals.

Remember that Gandhi with a loincloth evokes lot more admiration in the world than a dapper looking Hitler.

Stay blissful.

Venky

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