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Dressing For Success... Stop looking like a fool.

Topics relating to managing people and relationships

Kak

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This what I notice. You don't always have to get expensive stuff to look nice. Sure I have some ~$300 jeans I love, but I also have some $10 shirts from Starter. One of my favorite dress shirts is this nice blue one I paid like $25 for and got tailored.

It is actually interesting to me... I have observed equivalent quality between brands of wildly different price points...

For example, I am a fan of Brooks Brothers. Their Regent fit dress shirts are basically custom for me. Super high quality.

Brooks Brothers Red Fleece line of polo shirts are junk. I have shirts from Walmart and Costco that blow the quality away. There are absolutely some things where you are just paying for the brand.
 
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Kak

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ecommercewolf

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Most important fashion tips:

If you're going to spend money, SPEND ON A WATCH, SHOES AND A HAT aka things you wear all the time, THUS YOU GET THE BEST BANG FOR BUCK!

The important thing is NOT name brand, it's FIT and colors that work well with your skin tone and body type

Also make sure you take care of your body, no you don't need to be "jacked," but don't be a sloppy oaf. Being 14-16% bodyfat (for men, women it's obv higher) with muscle mass is impressive to the average person and incredibly easy to maintain, so take care of yourself as well, you want to talk about wearing things 24/7? Try looking up this thing called your "body" apparently you can't get rid of it!

Finally, make sure you have GOOD POSTURE, there is nothing worse than seeing a good looking or even fit person with a hunched back or severe posture issues, especially in the day and age when you can correct that shit in a few weeks

Is there any good books or reads on how to get the right palette based on my skin tone?
 

Tiago

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Did a course called The Style System by Antonio Centeno from Real Men Real Style.

Really good. Helps you understand style to increase your business success.

I’m on my way to buy my first pair of Allen Edmonds, a few bespoke shirts and charcoal bespoke suit. Feels good to finally step it up in the clothing department.

Two articles that might help, that really made me look at clothing differently:


 

Kak

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GPM

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You have infected my brain with dreams of French cuffs. Everywhere I go I see "manager shirts" and "leader shirts". I see politicians who are fighting for votes who try and look nice, and look like they are trying too hard (barrel cuffs) . Then I see the guys wearing those beautiful French cuffs and that is all I can see. It is just so beautiful.

I need some French cuffs. I have to get some! A sport coat, a nice silver watch, beautiful French cuffs and polished shoes... Just oozes class.
 

G-Man

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I was at a trade show in Dubai last week and it really accentuated how terrible Americans dress. Everyone else was so much better dressed. You just don’t notice you look like a slouch If everyone else does.

Time to dust off the old go to suspenders from my bank days. Ladies loved them and men were jealous.

PS, if there are clasps anywhere on your suspenders, buy some real ones and take your pants to a tailor. If you’re old enough that your tie doesn’t have a clip, neither should your ‘spenders.
 

Kak

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You have infected my brain with dreams of French cuffs. Everywhere I go I see "manager shirts" and "leader shirts". I see politicians who are fighting for votes who try and look nice, and look like they are trying too hard (barrel cuffs) . Then I see the guys wearing those beautiful French cuffs and that is all I can see. It is just so beautiful.

I need some French cuffs. I have to get some! A sport coat, a nice silver watch, beautiful French cuffs and polished shoes... Just oozes class.

I have only 2 dress shirts with barrel cuffs out of about 15. I like french cuffs.

By the way all of my dress shirts are some form of white or pale blue.

Jamie Dimon is a great example for you. French cuffs, white and blue shirts.

 
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lewj24

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Could unprofessionalism have played a role? I think so.

View attachment 28049

Then take a look at the Softbank CEO softbank ceo at DuckDuckGo

I saw this guy in Forbes magazine. He had like 4 professionally taken pictures and he was barefoot in all of them. I wasn't even trying to notice, it just caught my eye. I remember it years later because it was so weird..
 

Dan_Cardone

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Many people, men in particular, vastly underestimate just how important your appearance is when it comes to generating instant trust and likability. Is it fair? No, but it is reality.

I was once hired by a car dealership to come in and figure out why their sales were so low compared to other area dealerships. Despite selling new cars one of the first things I noticed upon entering the lot was the homeless man wondering around the cars. You can image my surprise when that man tried to sell me a car!

The owner (who recently took over the dealership from his father) had a VERY lax policy on dress standards and the majority of his sales team really seemed to enjoy that! While that wasn't the only problem, it was a big problem!

One of the changes I made was to implement a strict dress code of suits only and professional haircuts.

That along with some simple customer service changes drastically improved sales.
 

ChrisV

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So I wanted to bump this due to a recent experience. The past few weeks I've been really depressed. Wasn't sure why because not much has changed. Well today I finally figured out the reason. It's changing to winter and I haven't gone Winter clothes shopping yet. I've been wearing this one jacket because again it literally just started getting cold. It's a jacket I don't like at all and I think I look terrible in it.. but whatever - it's cold. But I'm usually very conscious of how I look.

I didn't even put two and two together that the reason I've been so depressed the last week was how awful I felt I looked. Whenever I went out I hoped I didn't see anyone I knew. I finally got around to doing some winter shopping and the depression lifted as soon as I started dressing better. Confidence back up.. everything.

How you dress is so important. There's a concept in Psychology called the Halo effect where people treat you differently based on one minor thing. How you look is a major one. This is s a well-studied phenomenon People who look good get lighter prison sentences, they're treated better, and a bunch of other advantages

Halo effect is the tendency for positive impressions of a person, company, brand or product in one area to positively influence one's opinion or feelings in other areas. It is a type of cognitive bias. and is the opposite of the horn effect.
A simplified example of the halo effect is when an individual noticing that the person in the photograph is attractive, well groomed, and properly attired, assumes, using a mental heuristic, that the person in the photograph is a good person based upon the rules of that individual's social concept.

While you can't really change your looks themselves you can do a LOT to change your presentation. How you dress. Cologne/perfume. Accessories. The car you drive. Whatever you can do to look better. It goes a long long way.

But do a little test... go grab a new outfit you really like and see how it changes your entire mood.
 
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MHP368

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I got one for you , what suit for selling to lawyers?

On the one hand thats a crowd that sees so many suits that it might all be a blur

On the other hand , thats a crowd that sees so many suits that theyd notice every minute detail gone wrong

Some kind of basic formal grey suit? I feel like 3 piece might be overkill but I have so much damn fun wearing the things

Obviously the seer sucker in my profile pic is a no go unless I get transported back in time to the 1930's deep south
 

JG17

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I got one for you , what suit for selling to lawyers?

On the one hand thats a crowd that sees so many suits that it might all be a blur

On the other hand , thats a crowd that sees so many suits that theyd notice every minute detail gone wrong

Some kind of basic formal grey suit? I feel like 3 piece might be overkill but I have so much damn fun wearing the things

Obviously the seer sucker in my profile pic is a no go unless I get transported back in time to the 1930's deep south

I work in finance (not law but similar environment dress-wise), my advice is don't overdo it. To me a suit is a suit unless someone is wearing either a three-piece or a light/bright colour. A formal, two-piece dark navy or charcoal grey suit with a white shirt and polished black shoes is all you need. Personally I can't stand ties and wouldn't be bothered if someone came to sell to me without one, but you probably should cover this base as every lawyer I meet wears one if only for meetings. Just don't go with an obviously cheap/poor quality one, one with a funky pattern or a massive knot. Keep it simple, tidy and smart and you'll have no issues.
 

Primeperiwinkle

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Just saw an ad on fb.
Masterclass ad.
An ad on Facebook for Masterclass.

by Rupaul.

who is advocating.. wait for it..

WAAAAAAAAIT FOR IT!!!!!

- wearing a suit.

I had to say something. I couldn’t help myself. It’s been a long day. Lol
 
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D

Deleted78083

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There is something fake about people wearing suits when there is no need to.

Also in his book Peter Thiel details how he never puts his money in start ups where people wear suits. He prefers to see people that are...how they naturally are. I believe somehow that dressing like sh*t when you SHOULD be wearing a suit shows how little of a f*ck you give, an idea i am highly attracted to in general. I think it is about breaking codes.
 

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@Kak Thoughts on dress for zoom calls?

I had jacket + dress shirt for a call last week and the high-level people I was talking to were at home in athleisure.

I’ll continue to err on the side of too formal, but curious to know what you think
 

ZF Lee

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@Kak Thoughts on dress for zoom calls?

I had jacket + dress shirt for a call last week and the high-level people I was talking to were at home in athleisure.

I’ll continue to err on the side of too formal, but curious to know what you think
Yeaaahhhh...how to dress for online calls?

I usually just wear some collared office shirts. I've heard of tales of complete dapper guys getting up in the middle of Zoom calls, revealing their undies to everyone haha.
 
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Kak

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@Kak Thoughts on dress for zoom calls?

I had jacket + dress shirt for a call last week and the high-level people I was talking to were at home in athleisure.

I’ll continue to err on the side of too formal, but curious to know what you think

Yeah. Coronavirus has turned this on its head.

I just wear a nice golf shirt and call it a day. No one on the other end of that is going to be wearing a suit unless they are a CNBC news correspondent and even then it just looks weird.

Do be sure to wear pants.

I am commuting to Austin and back today. Have a lunch meeting at a downtown steakhouse, breaking out the suit once again.
 

advantagecp

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I typically wear jeans, polo, street boots, watch. I've intended to upgrade to jeans, button down, loafers, watch. But perhaps I should go to <better pants>, button down, sport coat, loafers, watch?

You might be surprised at how easy it is to get into the habit of wearing a sport coat as your go to lightweight jacket. And people will look at you differently.

Side note: If you can handle the $700+ price you can't go wrong with the Alden 986 Leisure Handsewn Loafer in Color #8. It's a grail shoe in the Trad/Ivy community. High quality shell cordovan so if you take care of them they will last a lifetime.
 

Rabby

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These days you can put your money into upgrading the shirt, tie and coat, and forget about the pants all together. Just don't stand up until after the zoom call ends.
 
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Guest-5ty5s4

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I saw a lot of talk about suits. That's great, but in some businesses, professional attire is different.
The owner of most industrial, contractor, or other blue collar businesses pretty much wears a thin polo shirt (or fishing shirt), jeans or khaki pants, and work boots. Cowboy boots work too in the south.

This is kind of a hard one to pull off because you want to look professional but if you're out in the heat a lot or there's grinding, cutting, and debris around you, a suit would just make you look silly.

However, at a certain scale of company, a suit would be appropriate. Eventually, the owner is mostly in the office.
 

Rabby

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I saw a lot of talk about suits. That's great, but in some businesses, professional attire is different.
The owner of most industrial, contractor, or other blue collar businesses pretty much wears a thin polo shirt (or fishing shirt), jeans or khaki pants, and work boots. Cowboy boots work too in the south.

This is kind of a hard one to pull off because you want to look professional but if you're out in the heat a lot or there's grinding, cutting, and debris around you, a suit would just make you look silly.

However, at a certain scale of company, a suit would be appropriate. Eventually, the owner is mostly in the office.

There are some businesses where you probably don't want to look too "silk stocking." At least, not outside the board room. Do you wear a wool suit when you go out to inspect the work of a bunch of lumber men? Perhaps not. There's also the skill of transitioning to appropriate attire for the occasion.
 

Tom H.

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Guest-5ty5s4

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There are some businesses where you probably don't want to look too "silk stocking." At least, not outside the board room. Do you wear a wool suit when you go out to inspect the work of a bunch of lumber men? Perhaps not. There's also the skill of transitioning to appropriate attire for the occasion.

very true. My grandfather always told me you need to look clean and professional but not too fancy. Don’t look like you think you’re better than anyone else working there.

he sometimes wears a sports coat to work (customer visits, big bankers etc). Usually he wears dress pants and a button up shirt, but he always has his company baseball cap on, and his favorite thing to wear in the office is a T-shirt with overalls.

I want to be just like him someday :)
 

WillHurtDontCare

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Worth mentioning: the best fashion advice that you'll ever get is to develop a good weightlifting routine.

35062

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35064
 
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Guest-5ty5s4

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Worth mentioning: the best fashion advice that you'll ever get is to develop a good weightlifting routine.

View attachment 35062

View attachment 35063

View attachment 35064


This is so true. I might get hate for this, but Kinobody really showed me which workouts I need to be doing. For a long time I just did everything... If there was a machine for it, I did it. Stupid way to work out. I suggest everyone find a real program. The focus on back, shoulders, arms, & chest really works... Shoulders especially. But you need a program otherwise you're just doing random sh*t in the gym.

After doing this for a couple years (my diet has always been bad) my frame has improved a lot. Still have the same level of body fat though (15-17%) because I suck at eating lol
 
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PapaGang

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I've worked places that required suits, and I've worked in startups.
Wearing a suit changed me. I was more effective, organized and efficient.

I spoke recently with my boss and mentor, who is a former executive of Anheuser-Busch and he said the same thing. He was a different person with the suit on.

Quick story about dressing the part:
He told me at the time he worked out of Denver.

His first sales call was in California. He flew coach, stayed at a Holiday Inn near the airport, rented a compact car. He turned in his expense report on a Friday.

That Sunday, he gets a call early in the morning that the Executive Vice President wants to talk to him Monday morning, they had a flight booked for him to St. Louis already. He gets to the airport around 11, and finds he's got a first-class ticket. He flies out to St. Louis, a limo picks him up, and he finds they booked him at the Four Seasons that night.

Monday morning, the Executive Vice President has this expense report on the desk, and asks this sales executive, "How do we do things at Anheuser-Busch?"

Executive: "The right way?"

Executive Vice President: "NO. We do things FIRST CLASS here. Why do you think we sent out a stylist and purchased all those expensive suits for you? When you fly first class, you meet the kind of people we want to know and do business with. When you're having a nightcap at the Four Seasons, you'll run into someone who owns a franchise, or a resort. A potential account. At the Holiday Inn bar, you're going to be talking to the Fuller Brush man. It's about the people you associate with, and the opportunity it creates. From now on, EVERYWHERE you go, you fly first class. You stay in the best hotels. I don't want to see any more expense reports like this."

This was in the 80s, but the point still resonates. Associate yourself with the kind of people that create opportunity for you and them. If you're looking to do business with first-class people, you need to look the part, whatever that may be.
 
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WillHurtDontCare

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This is so true. I might get hate for this, but Kinobody really showed me which workouts I need to be doing. For a long time I just did everything... If there was a machine for it, I did it. Stupid way to work out. I suggest everyone find a real program. The focus on back, shoulders, arms, & chest really works... Shoulders especially. But you need a program otherwise you're just doing random sh*t in the gym.

Just look up what Arnold and his training partners did and do the same thing. Obviously they used steroids so scale back accordingly, but you can probably those routines, scale down the volume (do 45-75 minutes rather than 4 hours) and get great results.

Also look up Dorian Yates, Mike Mentzer, and Tom Platz and copy them.
 

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