Does clothing matter so much? (first impressions) - Page 2

"You never get a second chance to make a first impression."

Sure, other character traits besides dress are more important, but you'll never get a chance to show your wonderful character traits to someone if they reject you immediately based on the first impression. The first impression, by definition, has to be superficial because the first thing people see is what's on the outside.

Take cars. I can't help it. If I see the exact same guy get out of a 2006 Mercedes S500 versus a beat up 1985 Ford Escort, I'll think that Mercedes guy must be doing something right, whereas Escort guy doesn't have his shit together. So I'll give Mercedes guy a chance to prove his other good traits and Escort guy won't get a chance at all. Mercedes guy may still turn out to be a shit, but he bought himself a chance to prove it.

Superficial? Sure. But there are 6 billion people in the world and I've gotta do some quick sorting or I won't be able to make any decisions.

Clothes are extreeeeeeeemely important on first impression. The truly do immediately give you some sense of the person. Perfect example: Sarah Jessica Parker's character on Sex & The City. I think most of us would consider her to be quite attractive. But, I'd argue that if she were in sweats and an ill-fitting t-shirt we wouldn't look twice. Her style is a BIG part of her attractiveness. I think many of the old Hollywood actors have the same thing going for them. It was their elegance and class and fabulous suits that made them so desirable. If they walked around dressed like half the Hollywood folks today, they wouldn't have had the same aura whatsoever.

I see your point, but your example is far from perfect. I wouldn't look twice at SJP no matter what she was (or wasn't) wearing.

At 18, I'm sure you're doing fine. if you've taken the time to regularly post here, you're obviously more interested in style than most people your age.

As a person in his thirties, I'd say your second thought depends on how you present yourself. If the sneakers and jeans are clean, tasteful and age-appropriate, well coordinated and you're in pretty decent physical shape, I think your peers would still call you "well-dressed."

Still, by the time you get to that age, you should still try to move towards a somewhat more formal style of dressing, especially if you're going to a nice restaurant or similar event.You'll always get points for wearing your look well, but a great, well-fitted suit never hurts.

She does have nice legs, though. If she were wearing nothing except a bag over her head, I'd be interested.

In some areas I know, when you see someone getting out of a new and expensive Mercedes, you think that he is probably a drug dealer. Expensive cars and clothes do not always produce a good impression.
By the way, I recently visited some Swedish colleagues at an IP Law firm, and to my surprise they were all dressing informally. They said that they had taken that decision because they had found that most of their clients (often, R&D staff at hightec companies) did not trust people in expensive suits.
However, generally, I think that dressing well -that is, looking clean and proper and with clothes that look nice- is important to create a good first and second impression. Actually, people who neglect their appearance often also tend to neglect other things. I remember when one of my ex-bosses hired an engineer who used to wear a very sloppy odd jacket. He always arrived late to work and didn't finnish his tasks in time, causing the rest of us a lot of problems.
It is important to care about the details. I guess that is why there is so much focus on the shoe polishing in the army.