Or First Impressionism
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“I don’t get no respect”
– Rodney Dangerfield
How important really is what we wear?
Is there a cause/effect in how we are treated by the world? Does it make a difference in getting someone to help you in a Department store, or being seated at a good table in a restaurant? Can’t people look through all the superficial and see the real us?
Fortunately, guys, we have some scientific evidence to support what you wear does make a difference in how you influence the world around you. Maybe we didn’t want to believe (but suspected) the real reason that guy down the hall who always dressed great, but didn’t know poop is now a vice president!
When your credibility is crucial, in situations such as job interviews, court testimony, sales presentations and first dates (or even second and third dates) it is important to made a “good” first impression.
“You never get a second chance
to make a first impression“
– Will Rogers
Behavioral scientists tell us that this “first impression” is a strong one. And the process of sizing you up is on a subconscious/emotional level of the brain. Your evaluation by a stranger takes 30 seconds or less and can be so strong that it could take as much as five years to erase.
Don’t you think it’s easier to make a great first impression with you appearance and then follow up by showing what a capable, impressive and trustworthy person you are with a winning performance?
We’ve all heard the expression “You can’t judge a book by its cover”. If you agree, it’s a good thing you’re not in publishing. Publishing houses have long since proven that a cover may not tell you what’s inside a book, but the cover is the reason that we pick up one or the other off the rack. Until a book is picked up, no sale is made!
A good example of “how you look being more important than what you say” is the first Kennedy-Nixon presidential debate. Radio listeners thought that Nixon had won while TV watchers gave Kennedy the win. Kennedy looked great, fresh and vigorous while Nixon appeared tired and rumpled. The TV audience gave more credibility to what they saw than what they heard.
When I describe someone as an assistant manger at a fast food restaurant you immediately conjure an image of that person, maybe without much conscious thought. When I mention a high level executive you get another, different image in your mind. There is a definite picture of a person with credibility, authority and power – a professional image.
Why not take advantage of the research on human nature and utilize the knowledge to enhance and control how you are accepted?
The research reports that people notice the following about another human being and in this order. Remember this is a prehistoric/subliminal evaluation.
-
Skin color
-
Sex
-
Age
We can do nothing about the first three, but we can work on the next four factors.
4. Bearing This includes height (taller people receive higher starting salaries), head movement (nodding is negative with regard to perception of authority) and body language (smiling is perceived as weakness if over done).
5. Appearance Since about 90% of you is covered by apparel, the clothing you choose makes a significant impact. This is such an important area, and on in which you can effect the greatest impression we’ll discuss it detail below.
6. Direct Eye Contact Don’t stare, but look others in the eye 40 – 60% of the time, otherwise you’ll be perceived as having something to hide or that you don’t know what you are talking about.
7. Speech 55% of communication is non-verbal. It’s not what you say, but how you say it.
“What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.”
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
What you wear makes a difference in how you influence the world.
Why not take advantage of this. Since 90% of us is covered with clothing, the clothing you choose makes a significant impact and one area where we can effect the greatest impression!
Dressing badly can be taken as contempt for other people or the situation you are in. Clothing is a way to show others that you have respect and consideration for the situation. If you have respect for the theatre, you don’t show up in shorts and a T-shirt to a Broadway play. (The same goes for church, a job interview, etc.).
So it’s not a question of being judged. We are judged thousands of times everyday.
It’s a question of whether we want to have an affect on that judging or not.
Are we ready to see what we can do to present ourselves in the best package to project a credible, professional image?
“Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express’d in fancy; rich not gaudy
For the apparel oft proclaims the man”
Polonius to Laertes
HAMLET, Act I, Scene III
Here are some basic tips, and faux pas to avoid in order to look your best:
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1. Never wear a short sleeve shirt with a tie. Short sleeve shirts are perceived as lower class apparel. Fine as part of a uniform or if you aspire to be a fast-food manager, not if you want to project a professional image.
2. Shoes are one of the most evaluated elements of men’s wardrobes. Your shoes should be clean, shined, in good repair and appropriate for the occasion. If you are wearing a suit, wear lace-up shoes. Don’t wear the same shoe on consecutive days and keep shoetrees in your shoes when you’re not wearing them.
3. Trousers should be long enough to cover your socks, and socks should cover your shins even when you cross you legs. Pants are long enough if they have a slight break in the front. Pleats and cuffs are traditional and functional. Pleats let you sit down comfortably and cuffs add weight to the bottoms allowing for proper drape.
4. Wearing both a belt and braces (suspenders) make you look insecure. One or the other please. And if you opt for the braces, please make certain they are the kind that fasten inside your trousers with buttons.
It’s very easy to have a tailor or the alterations person at your dry cleaners put brace buttons on your pants if they don’t already have them. The metal clip-ons are for the guys who wear short sleeve shirts with ties.
5. Socks should match your trousers.
6. Belts should match your shoes in color and texture.
7. Ties should reach your belt line. This is neither arbitrary nor negotiable. Too short of a tie makes you look like a rube.
8. Properly knotted ties have a “dimple” under the knot. Clips and tacks are out of date.
9. Suit and Sports jackets are symbols of authority. However the bottom buttons of men’s jackets are not designed to be buttoned, since King Edward VII gained weight, and started a fashion trend (see detail below).
Single Breasted suits can have one, two, three or more buttons. Two and three button jackets are classic, one or more than three get you into the fashion forward arena, which is more suitable for social events than business. With two button jackets only the top button is fastened.
With three button jackets, you can close the middle, or middle and top button. Some suits are made so that the lapels roll to the middle button. On those suits you leave the top button unfastened. Some East Coast hipsters fasten only the top of three buttons!
Four or more button jackets may be designed to fasten all the buttons, even the bottom. If the bottom button of a four button can be closed without a noticeable pulling of the fabric, it’s ok to close or leave it open.
Double Breasted suits are the more formal of the two styles and can have four to six buttons with one or two “to button”. They are often identified by a two-number designation such as 4/2, 4/1 or 6/2 (also “four to two”).
Translated, the first number gives the total number of front buttons and the second is the number of functioning buttonholes. It doesn’t always mean that all the buttons have to be fastened.
Often only the middle or upper button is secured on a 4/2 or 6/2, but the Duke of Kent started buttoning only his lower button creating a longer diagonal line across his chest giving the wearer a thinner, more dynamic look.
Why do men never button the bottom button of your suit, sports jacket, vest or Cardigan sweater?
King Edward VII, “Bertie”, son of Victoria (1841 – 1910, King 1901 – 1910) was so heavy that he could not get the bottom button fastened on his vest or to be more historically kind, maybe he just forgot. His subjects taking it as a fashion statement followed his lead and today most men’s suits, sports jackets or vests are not designed to button the bottom button.
The tradition of not buttoning the bottom button may have also come from the early waistcoats, which were very long. It may have been out of necessity of being able to walk that the bottom buttons were left undone.
10. Suit and Sports jackets should fit properly which includes showing ½” of “linen” or shirtsleeve at the jacket sleeve.
11. No pens or pocket protectors in your shirt pocket. Pens go in your suit coat inside pocket, out of sight. Also applies to telephones, etc. worn on the belt. Think about getting a nice briefcase!
12. Hair longer than shoulder length for women and over the ears for men diminishes perception of authority, but increases accessibility.
We live in a complex, crowded society where considerate people dress appropriately for various places and occasions. Dressing appropriately is about respect for your fellow humans and our institutions.
“Do the clothes suit you?
Do the clothes suit the occasion?
Do the clothes suit each other?”
Why even be concerned with “fashion”?
“Fashion passes, style remains.”
– Coco Chanel (1883-1971), founder of Chanel
Men’s clothing, unlike women’s, is more traditional and less fashion oriented. It takes several seasons for men’s designers to change even slightly the width of a necktie.
The male business suit is virtually unchanged in 70 years! Part of that is the progression to perfection that has resulted in attire that looks great on most men. The theory is once you reach perfection, don’t mess with it!
“I’m interested in longevity, timelessness, style
- not fashion.”
– Ralph Lauren, fashion designer
So why even bother with fashion? Why not choose acceptable classic clothing items and just stick with those?
“Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable
that we have to alter it every six months”
– Oscar Wilde
It’s important to know what the trends are, so you can update your wardrobe periodically with the fashion items IF they fit your own style and body type. You don’t want to still be wearing a light blue member’s only jacket and red polyester Sansabelt pants, do you?
“The only moral one can draw from history is
that it is much better to invent a new fashion
than a new social theory.
The fist may improve the appearance of men;
the latter will only bring about a revolution”
– Carlo Maria Franzero
the biography, Beau Brummell
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Runway Reality Check
By David Lipke
DNR Magazine
The fall runway season is over and designers have disseminated their creative visions into the media ether to be picked up by potential shoppers. Six months hence, consumers should have digested their choices and be ready to hit the retail racks to snap up their favorite designer’s new looks.
At least that’s the idea. But come fall, just how closely will stores resemble the runways?
In fact, designer shoppers may find the fashions available in department stores to be noticeable different from what was shown in Milan and New Your. That’s because only a certain percentage of any designer’s runway collection is bought by retailer, colors and details are often changed from the original runway look, and many basic items carrying a designer’s label are never showcased on a runway at all. What’s more, some eye-catching runway pieces are never produced because hey were created strictly for show and never intended for retail customers.
“Almost all runway shows cater to the press and it’s much more about the image of the brand than what’s going to end up at retail,” explained Kevin Harter, men’s fashion director at Bloomingdale’s. “In reality, in most shows, a great part of what is shown on the runway never makes it to a department store.” Case in point: Bloomingdale’s will probably buy bout 30 to 50 percent of the fall Sean John collection – “which is a lot,” said Harter.
At Saks Fifth Avenue, Dan McCampbell, vice-president, men’s fashion merchandising, and DMM, men’s sportswear, estimated the upscale chain usually buys just 10 to 30 percent of any designer’s runway looks, depending on the label. At Barneys New York, Tom Kalenderian, GMM of men’s, similarly pegged his orders at 10 to 15 percent of those much-photographed offerings. “However, this doesn’t devalue the shoes,” he cautioned. “They are still very effective tools to get across a focused, edited perspective of the designer’s new vision for the season. We’re looking for iconic pieces that will tell the story of the season and will be good sellers.”
More often than not, however, stores write up orders with a majority of pieces that are not taken directly from a runway. “Everything is custom-made from these collections,” said Kalenderian. “The one-and-only permutation of the look on the runway is not the only way to do it. The runway show is really an abridged edition of what the designer is offering.” That means colors can be changed, different fabrics chosen from sample swatches, pleats eliminated, buttons added or taken away, and lapels notched or peaked.
While runway shows offer retailers and consumers an explicit message regarding a label’s theme for the season – and add sizzle to the brand – the bread-and-butter of many retailers’ designer businesses is comprised of items like sweaters and suits that never get the klieg-light treatment on runways.“Dolce & Gabbana is an excellent example of a house that takes a very directional view with their runway show, but when you go to the showroom they have a wonderfully merchandised lineup of tailored clothing, outerwear and knits,” said Robert Burke, senior fashion director at Bergdorf Goodman.
“Runway might be only 20 percent of their total samples. You need core elements that you can build a business with and then take runway and use it as frosting and sprinkle it in.”Of course, designers themselves don’t tend to view their runway collections as mere frosting or sprinkles. Those with their own network of boutiques often showcase the entire breadth of their runway offerings in them – both as a marketing tool and to ensure that shoppers can buy what they’ve seen in magazines.
“It’s great that DieselStyleLab has its own retail showcase so that we can show the entire collection and the concept that we are trying to convey,” said Katie Liu, V-P of sales and marketing at Staff USA, distributor of that label. While DieselStyleLab retail customers order about 60 percent of what is shown on the runway, the company’s own New York boutique will stock 95 percent of it, said Liu.
“Color is the number-one reason that things are not bought off the runway,” said Liu. “We might show a more vibrant red color, while retailers will order a more commercially viable gray version. However, we know that editorial will feature the sample color and we want to have that available in our stores.”
Another company careful to stock everything seen on its runway is Polo Ralph Lauren. “In Milan, Ralph has always presented collections that are wearable and elegant – looks that are part of a lifestyle,” explained Wayne Meichner, president of Polo Retail Corp. “For Ralph, the runway has never been about theatrics and one-off pieces that will never make their way to retail. Our Purple Label shows present a luxury-lifestyle sensibility that translate well to our retail environment.”
That said, Ralph Lauren has been known to tweak certain runway looks before they hit the selling floor of the Rhinelander mansion. For example, a natty, three-piece, pinstripe suit from the fall ’02 runway show was only sold in a two-piece version at retail, while a crinkled leather trench coat from the spring ’03 show turned up in a smooth version.
Similarly, at Gucci a spokeswoman noted that while what is shown on the runway is always realized for retail, occasionally slight alterations are taken to render pieces more wearable. In the spring ’03 collection a pair of high-waisted pants were manufactured with a lower waist for retail.
Kean Etro said he has had a 180-degree change in his approach to the runway: He now only shoes pieces that will retail. “I used to organize runways with a high percentage of no-salable items and I truly got sick of such an attitude,” he said. “Now, everything has to have a reason for existing.”
Not so for Roberto Cavalli, who asserted, “The runway is the foremost moment for showmanship. It is there where creativity wins and a designer is unbridled to show more exaggerated colors, fits and cuts. It’s normal that some of these looks will not go into production and I would say that most often it’s connected to costs that would just be decisively too high.”
To lower those prices, certain high-end runway fabrics at Versace are switched to less-expensive materials for retail. For example, a white python motorcycle jacket in the spring ’03 collection was changed to a calfskin to make it available to a wider audience. The python version is only available in key Versace flagships around the world, according to a spokesman.
Similarly, Sean John plans changes for some of its more flamboyant fall’03 outerwear pieces before they hit stores. Fur-lined snorkel coats in the show will likely be produced in nylon or Ultrasuede, minus the fur lining, said Jeff Tweedy, executive V-P of the company. Also don’t look for the thermal jumpsuits or shearling chaps – they were never meant for production.
“Those were obviously about giving the editors something to get excited about,” said Tweedy. But despite the label’s well-deserved reputation for staging over-the-top shows, Tweedy said the company expected to produce about 85 to 90 percent of the looks sent down the runway last month. Previous Sean John collections, however, have experienced production rates as low as 60 percent of what was shown on the runway.
Several retailers singled out American labels such as Kenneth Cole, Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica and DKNY as having the biggest disconnect at times between their runways and what ends up in stores, noting those labels have showed looks that are not available to retailers. “It’s very frustrating because you get high-level (retail) executives to go to the show, and later they ask you ‘why don’t we have these looks?’ ” said a fashion director for a major department store.
Kenneth Cole president Paul Blum acknowledged that shows are often used to promote a brand’s image – and not just to showcase retail product. “Our runway show is an idealized version of our men’s wear collection,” he explained. “ A lot of the product will available for purchase, but other pieces are stylized items that are not for sale. But they are always inspired by what our retail collection will look like. I think everybody at the shoes knows how this works. The shows are part marketing, par image-making and part product presentation.”
A spokeswoman for Tommy Hilfiger, however, said more than 90 percent of the runway collection is produced each season, either for retail customers of for the brand’s own retail stores. Vyto Palionis, DKNY’s V-P of men’s wear sales and merchandising, said 60 to 80 percent of their brand’s runway collection is available in department store, while 90 percent is available in its own stores. Nautica’s David Chu noted, “Only 2 to 5 percent of what we show to retailers during market does not get produced. There’s always a couple of pieces that might not get enough orders to produced and are canceled, but everything we show is part of the collection retailers see during market.”
Jeff Gennette, GMM of men’s and kids’ at Macy’s West, pointed out that shoppers rarely, if ever, sought out pieces just because they were shown on a runway. What is really important, he noted, was to make sure you have the fashion featured in advertising campaigns. “Consumers do come looking for specific goods they see in ads, so you should definitely have those in your top doors,” he noted.
Sunny Diego, director of men’s fashion merchandising at Saks Fifth Avenue, has a different view. “Our designer customers are very loyal and when they see a picture of a show or see it on Fashion File or Videofashion, the call up and want it, “ she said.
Designer John Varvatos said he believed it was important to offer consumers the chance to buy what is essentially advertised on the runway. “It’s funny that you’re asking me about his today because we had a meeting this morning to review our fall sales and to make sure everything was covered,” he explained. During that process, certain looks that were not picked up by retailers were bought for Varvatos’s own stores – such as a pair of merlot gabardine pants.
I don’t see the show as a Broadway production. I lived through that at other companies, where pieces were made just for show,” added Varvatos. “ But I think you a playing with people if they see a coat or a bag on the runway and it’s only made for the show. You’re teasing people, and the last thing you want to do in business is disappoint them.”