How We Dress Is How We Will Be Addressed

by Ruth Odusami

As discussed in part one, the way we dress says a lot about us and can significantly affect our lives— though dress alone is not everything. How the wearer carries the dress is very important.
Dressing can be subjective and ambiguous. How an outfit is perceived by people depends very much on how the wearer brings it to life. Let’s not forget that packaging is very important. As noted earlier, our “packaging” is the way we dress up for others to see. It does affect how other people perceive us, especially when we are meeting people for the first time, the way we look is important to give first impression.
Imagine you are to interview someone for a job, and this candidate, someone applying for a position as teaching director, comes to meet you in a polo T-shirt. How would you react? Personally, I might feel offended that he is not respecting himself by dressing so casually for such an important meeting. It will affect my decision, and most likely I will throw his job application aside. In this situation, an interviewee is expected to dress formally. This is basic courtesy and common sense. Besides annoying job interviewers, bad dressers can discredit important events. To make major events highly dignified, dress code is introduced, where people are expected to dress elegantly to match the tone of the event.
We now know that our way of dressing affects our life and people around us, but we don’t have to spend a lot of money to get the best clothes in a store and dress nicely all the time. It doesn’t make sense to go shopping in a fancy dress. Our dressing should go along with the occasion all the time. For example, wearing a dress when staying at home to meet a friend does not make sense; we can wear casual dress for going out with friends; dress for work should not be confused with dress for an outing. We have to make a choice of clothes that goes with the occasion. Fashion awareness is always helpful. Dressing brings out the person in us.