Things haven’t been easy these past few months. A lot of us have been forced onto a lifestyle that can be difficult to get used to. The sudden change in our way of living has forced us to abandon some of our favorite activities such as going to the malls, dining and drinking in restaurants and bars, and hitting the gym. And one of the simpler, yet quite impactful activities that has been affected is dressing up.
Not dressing up for a couple of months has been… weird. Dressing up, an essential part of your morning routine, became optional.
Those staying at home would think that you are fine with just wearing your house clothes and go on about your day like always - have breakfast, get to work, play a few games afterwards, probably read a book before finally heading back to bed, but it’s not.
Surely you would have felt the changes, not dressing up makes you feel different, it feels like there is a part of you missing or that you don’t feel like yourself, some would even go as far as saying they have become an entirely different person. On the other hand, there are people who now feel deprived or culturally isolated since they used to express themselves through their outfits.
Here are few lessons not dressing up has taught us:
It makes us feel good.
In its most basic sense, dressing up helps us regain control.
In a similar manner as to why many people cannot start their day without a cup of coffee, dressing up also affects our psychology by helping us gain the confidence and self-esteem necessary to accomplish our goals. In turn, we start feeling good about ourselves as we begin our day which allows us to be more productive while being less prone to stress.
Apart from the aesthetic benefits we all appreciate, dressing up also helps change the way we see and perceive things. Wearing suits for example gives a sophisticated and distinguished look which can be perceived as professional, intelligent, and courteous.
For most of us, dressing up has been a significant part of our mornings - it helps us see clearly the path to seize the day and be one step closer to reaching our goals. Now that we live in a much restrictive environment, some of us might feel incomplete, probably even vulnerable and exposed, but don’t worry, as we slowly regain some level of normality back in our lives, so goes our sense of control and freedom. And for those who remain patient, you are not alone, while we can only hope and trust that the situation will improve soon, you only need to remember that dressing up only helps us manifest the confidence we already have in ourselves.
Dressing up for the occasion
As a way of showing our respect towards others, we have all experienced dressing up to attend events be it to meet an esteemed colleague, a mentor, and any other else we deem worthy of it.
With professionals either back on their office desks or working remotely, some are now feeling different, perhaps even uncomfortable considering how we used to face our peers physically and in a dignified manner, pretty much everyone nowadays has gotten accustomed to attending conference calls on their house clothes.
But while there is nothing wrong with wearing comfortable clothes over the last 60 days, dressing up does reflect our attitude and is perceived by the people around us as a statement on how we respond to certain situations.
For example, while it might be too much to do business online wearing a three-piece suit, you should still at least wear appropriate garments such as dress shirts or button-down shirts, this shows that you are a professional and continue to pay respect to the people you meet with despite the lack of physical presence. Same way with other activities where you will be seen by a lot of people such as lectures and public speeches, you never know when someone will pull up a video of you teaching a lecture in law dressed like an ape.
Meanwhile, with some of us now able to go out and meet our colleagues, it’s about time we pay them the necessary respect. For while we cannot shake their hands as we usually did, we can still present ourselves in a respectful manner by dressing up.
Creative Appreciation
For the same reason as to why one should continue to make himself presentable, self-expression also affects how we are perceived by the people around us. And yet despite the fact, the need to express creative appreciation by dressing up could still be seen as one of the most underappreciated yet most sophisticated motives to do so.
As social beings, self-expression is one of the most important principles in our society. It is the source of all the artistic works we appreciate in life and is often the inspiration for all the new creative things we do. As such, our personality can easily be reflected by the choices we make in our finery. And when speaking and other creative methods have been overlooked, fashion statements have always remained as an eye-catching means of expressing ourselves.
With the variety of colors and patterns we choose to include in our ensemble, a visual representation of our personality will always come out on top. It can sometimes be seen by our peers as a reflection of our views and preferences.
Dressing up is an essential part of our being, one way or another. These are just some things that we have been reminded of during the quarantine. Why do you dress up? What do you miss most about dressing up? And what are you doing to adapt to the current scenario? We would like to hear from you, send us a message by filling out the form below and remember - no matter when and where, wearing your own style will let you feel like yourself.