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| Illustration: Uday Deb |
Beau Brummell, the famous dandy of Regency England and arbiter of fashion, used to say of a rival: “His tailor makes him, while I, I make my tailor.” Brummell used to take five hours to dress. He had his boots polished with champagne. Expectedly, not being a rich man to start with, he died in penury in France, where he had fled to escape his debts.
You and I cannot afford to take five hours to dress and the bubbly is clearly meant for drinking. But in an era where the nudist on the late shift, or the sub-35 billionaire, is a much-venerated life form, it should be a relief that clothes do count, after all.
According to a recent survey by Bangalore-based staffing services firm TeamLease, the first impression matters a lot in workplace equations. And that depends a great deal on the clothes you wear and your overall grooming.
About 89 per cent of the respondents agreed that “style of dressing has a long-term impact on the overall image of an individual”. Women are expected to pay more attention to dress. Yet, unfortunately, their clothes’ style can often contribute to sexual harassment. More than 70 per cent of the sample felt the “focus shifts from work when women frequently wear skirts and tops at workplace.”
Casual dressing isn’t the preferred mode, even in the IT sector; 53 per cent of the respondents from this domain would opt for a stricter dress code. Among other findings: your tailor and label are often subjects of gossip in the office and can be icebreakers. Also, more than 50 per cent believes that clothes are often used to cover incompetence. By the way, 70 per cent says men spend as much time grooming as women do. Balding coots grow long strands of hair — length compensates for thickness, even if only in the mind — or buy wigs.
You will find a lot of this happening in India. According to a Reuters-Ipsos poll, Indians are the smartest-dressed office-goers on earth. Nearly 60 per cent say they would prefer to turn out for work dressed smartly. The scruffy brigade is led by the Hungarians; only 12 per cent believes in smart attire. “I know Indians who work out of home. But they would never sit in front of their PCs in pyjamas,” says Mumbai-based HR consultant Shashi Rao.
Who else is among the well dressed? The Reuters’ poll which surveyed 12,500 people in 24 countries, found South Korea, China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia at the top. At the other end were Sweden, Indonesia, Spain and Poland.
But what does being well-dressed mean? It depends, first, on the firm: a start-up can afford to be much more casual than a 50,000-employee conglomerate. It also depends on your position: what looks elegant on the CEO would appear pretentious on his chauffeur. It also depends on your age: how about that green shirt and ear studs at 60?
The industry matters too. According to a CNN-Careerbuilder.com survey, this is a factor in promotions. The finance sector demands a dignified look. Some 55 per cent of the workers in this sector say well-dressed employees are more likely to be promoted than others. In sales too, attire matters (51 per cent). On the other hand, manufacturing (33 per cent) is far more easygoing.
Is there any recipe for successful dressing? Bertie Wooster may be able to tell you what the well-dressed man is wearing. In the Indian workplace — as in most other places — it is best to stick to what everybody else is doing. The best fashions, for men, are those that don’t get noticed. Women? It’s not the dressing that matters.
CLOTHES MAKETH THE MAN
Why the well-dressed are likely to go further up the corporate ladder
First impressions matter:
Research says that we make decisions about people within the first three seconds of meeting them and we then spend the next 90 seconds trying to confirm our first impressions. While this may seem unfair, the truth is that appearances do matter. Knowing this, a person should always dress neatly, professionally and appropriately. You never know when you may run into a potential client or a future employer.
Visual cues complete the context:
Wearing a suit when making the pitch or meeting with management gives you instant credibility in a business environment. This is because people take cues from what they see. With clothing covering 90 per cent of your body, it can’t be stressed enough as to how important a role it plays in how you are perceived by others.
Colours and patterns can define you:
A man decked out in a pinstriped navy blue suit, a lighter blue shirt with white cuffs and collars, and a red tie screams power and authority. A man wearing a solid brown suit with an earth tone shirt and light coloured tie signals trust and openness. Both men are wearing suits, but two very different messages are being conveyed.
Well-dressed is associated with positive assumptions:
Well-dressed people are often perceived as being smarter. It helps you appear more important to the success of your company and may even help you hold onto your job.
