HOF: What Are You Wearing Right Now - Part III

[Fred49]



Another beauty by Mr Daniels ...a true power suit...can you bench 325lbs?

 

[MrDaniels]



Another beauty by Mr Daniels ...a true power suit...can you bench 325lbs?

****, the suit weighs more than 325 pounds.

 

[Fred49]



****, the suit weighs more than 325 pounds.

Dormeuil?

 

[Mr.P]



Dormeuil?

 

[niidawg3]



...

Spoozy - this is very nice. I particularly like the shade of the jacket. A colorful yet restrained look. Kudos man.

Why the name change? Trying to flee from Spoo and his sycophants?

I keed ... i keed

 

[fritzl]



Well that's nice of you. IRL though it is hardly "my way." I very rarely see squares and/or little to no break trousers. When I do, I instinctively - "wonder if they read SF?" I have said this before, but for me it is all about being comfortable in your clothes- wrt to both fit and not feeling self-concious.

good attitude

Thanks, Fritzl. I am plenty affected, but much of it is due to laziness. You dob't like the 2" cuff? I think my tailor chopped the excess fabric anyway so no lengthening will be occurring. He also thinks anything cuff larger than 1.5" is ridiculous and prefers a "full" break.

listen to him. he seems to be a wise guy.

 

[Threadbearer]



Holly moly, thx have quite remarkably changed since i´ve last posted here (using "Spoozy")....

Welcome back, Spoozster. Hmmm...maybe we should all get new screen names to commemorate the new Forvm format.

Many posters, for example Mr. Daniels, seem fixated on the idea of "power" in dress, when in reality I believe that this fascination is probably something that tries to make up for a personal feeling of inadequacy.

You seem like you could use a session (or ten) with HoldFast. What would motivate you -- in a clothing forum, no less -- to attack a man's character like this?

I've read about how attorneys adjust their attire depending on its audience and the message they want to project and I've tried to apply the principles.

Now I may be just a simple country lawyer, but ...

... for the first time in the 18 years that I have worked with him he commented on my appearance/attire. Needless to say it was a postive and appreciative comment.

Kudos, G-man!

Why the name change? Trying to flee from Spoo and his sycophants?

Spoo and the Sycophants. I'm going to name my band that.

 

[MrDaniels]



Spoo and the Sycophants. I'm going to name my band that.

You could be like Josie and the *****cats, but with better outfits.

 

[Threadbearer]



You could be like Josie and the *****cats, but with better outfits.

Don't be ridiculous. The *****cats' outfits were purrrfect!

I could totally pull this off.

 

[PandArts]

Or Faster *****cat

 

[Holdfast]

Dennis, this looks really solid. The pink doesn't overwhelm, but meshes well with the other colours; that's a great way to rock it IMO. It'll take a bit of time to adjust to the name-change!

In quoting the above so I can reply, I trust you'll forgive me editing out the sentence specifically referring to another member, as I don't want to get dragged into the flamey stuff. I do think this area is fascinating and I'm glad you followed it up. For the benefit of those who don't feel like seeing/reading a long post today, I've spoiler-coded the more tangential couple of paragraphs in this post!

"Power Dressing" is a marketing phrase. Like many such phrases it oversimplifies a real-but-complex idea down to a trite-but-resonant line that the public can remember.

I would agree that "true power dressing is dressing however you like, because it doesn't matter", but would perhaps suggest that even for those in positions of apparently extreme temporal authority, very few have real power in this regard. Most will still have obligations (which may be real or they may be perceived; and the latter may be neurotic, of course). So they still tend to stick to the same personal branding that got them their authority in the first place.


An obvious example would be, say, Steve Jobs. Clearly, he has made more money than most, and can pretty much do whatever he likes and theoretically can wear whatever he wants. And yet - even when seriously ill - he adheres to his personal brand of black turtleneck and blue jeans, especially when presenting to the media. Is that really what he likes to wear? I suspect some days when he's presenting he may not actually be in a black turtleneck mood, but he still puts it on. I digress on this tangent only to perhaps suggest that the only time what you're wearing truly doesn't matter in terms of the impact on others is either when you have no specific social role to play (either from being alone (physically or emotionally) or irrelevant), or disregard your social role entirely (viz. a pathological unkemptness such as Diogenes Syndrome). In most other cases, even those with authority, must still bend at least somewhat towards paying attention to what they wear, because the impact on others does matter.

"Power Dressing" in the over/mis-used sense is actually very akin to the social effect creating by donning a uniform/badge; it gives someone a certain role to play (where before they lacked one, or the self-confidence to play it), and results in a certain set of cued behaviours in those around, provided they don't think too closely about why they're responding the way they do. There are any number of fun psychological experiments (and amusing Candid Camera type sketches) where simply giving a person a uniform or badge allowed them to get others to do extreme things. This automatic vested authority in the uniform, rather than the person, is the theory behind "Power Dressing", but of course it takes things to an absurd and unrealistic endpoint where you get people assuming that the clothes alone create the effect (the classic "red is a power colour" nonsense), rather than the fact that it is the uniform in combination with the wearer's words, actions & behaviour that result in others doing extreme things. The clothes can act as an enabling cue to some degree, but alone, they are not enough.


Exploring the interaction between clothes and behaviour is absolutely a far more nuanced and subtle process than what's normally called "power dressing". I agree that it requires a willingness to self-reflect and develop insight, and these are rare traits in the world in general. We - and I absolutely include myself - would all be well-served by working on that! I've learned massive amounts from seeing what I look like in photos on a regular basis (even if it means inflicting those images upon SF) and reflecting on how I interacted with people on those days and thinking about what worked and what didn't. I'm not at any sort of end-point yet, but it's a fun way to try to learn some of the language.

Anyway, just adding to the general nothing...

 

[Gdot]

Holdfast,

I find your ruminations on the topic of attire to be most interesting.

One of things I noticed almost immediately upon first reviewing the WAYWRN thread was that it appeared to me that you specifically dressed to be 'approachable' as opposed to 'commanding'.

Would that be a fair assessment?

I, for one, believe that attire can be very influential in our interactions with others. I often make choices in what I wear based on my 'intended affect'.

Whether or not this is ultimately successful is nearly impossible to prove empirically - but I can say that I've risen pretty near to the top of my profession - so at least something must be working.

Perhaps a new thread on this topic?

Not so sure WAYWRN is quite the place for such.

 

[cronicmole]

LOL Iammatt what lured you out of the food thread bro

 

[Gus]

Wow, two pages and only one photo of any SFers? WTF?

 

[MyOtherLife]

kevinsp8 nice suit. Details please?