If a women dresses in masculine clothes, she’s more likely to be hired. A teaching assistant who dresses up will be taken more seriously than one who dresses down. The clothes make the woman and the man. We’ve known these things intuitively for a long time, and studies have proved them. Now there’s a study that suggests that what we wear affects our own internal thought processes.
According to researchers Adam and Galinsky from Northwestern University, subjects who put on a doctor’s white lab coat thought more clearly and had better sustained attention than those who did not – and even than those who looked at a lab coat before taking a series of tests. So putting on a lab coat makes you smarter.
That raises the question. Does dressing well make it possible for you to give a better speech?
Anecdotally, we know this to be true. No doubt people have told you for years to ‘dress for success’. You naturally dress in your best for a job interview, or an important meeting. It makes you feel better, and it’s a signal to others that you are taking the event seriously.
We always tell clients to buy a suit or a dress that makes them feel like a million bucks when they’re giving an important speech. If you feel great, you stand in a way that telegraphs that feeling. And the audience picks that feeling up. The audience gets your confidence. You give a better speech, and the audience has a better experience.
But now we have reason to suspect that, if dressing in a white lab coat makes you smarter, other high-status clothing choices will have a similar effect. That’s something to think about when you get ready to give that important talk. Are you dressed for success? Are you dressed to get the most out of your brain?
I have always dressed to the audience and the topic. If I’m in a room full of jeans-wearing ad-exec/hipsters, I come off as stuffy if I wear a tie. If I’m in a room full of business people, I’ll bring a tie, check the audience to see what’s out there, and reflect what I see.
But, in all that, I have to be comfortable as well.
Hi, Paul —
Good to hear from you. And I saw a similar comment on Facebook — dress to match (or only slightly go beyond) the audience. Too far beyond the audience and you risk looking stuffy. But this study shows that not just your comfort level, but also the quality of your thinking, is affected, which raises the ante on your level of dress.
As always I find I can relate to what you are saying Nick. I live in a regional city in Queensland, Australia and I do more MC work rather than speaking as such. I recently hosted a series of public forums for local candidates in our state election. I found most of the candidates dressed down – I suspect in order to appear more ‘common’. I dressed in suit and tie and did really feel like I had authority and was in control of the debate.
On another point, sometimes I notice at conferences that presenters will hang around dressed like vagrants all day. Then all of a sudden they appear on stage dressed immaculately in their best clothes. I think this lacks authenticity. If you are part of the organisation and you will be at the event the whole time, you should dress with respect for the whole event not just your segment. My thoughts anyway.
Hi, David —
Thanks for the comment. I love the point about changing to “speaking clothes” half-way through the day. I agree; that does not seem authentic. Show up as who you are!
I gave a speech yesterday to a group of engineering and sciences grad students at UC Santa Barbara, and I wore a brand new suit. In the car on the way up, I wondered for a moment whether I’d overdressed, whether a suit was a bit much for grad students. As soon as I saw the very nice venue, I knew I’d worn the right thing. Not only that, it made me feel “the part,” that is, an invited business leader.
And, Susan — according to the research, it may have made you smarter:-) Thanks for the comment.
I once worked with a young women manager who always came to worked dressed as though she had just come back from a nightclub. It looked totaly inappropriate for the workplace and I could never take her seriously because of that.
Hi, Nigel —
You raise a great point — clothes are signs — that is, they have meaning. They indicate purpose, attitude, class, role, destination, activity — you name it!
It is said that clothes maketh a man and it is very true.
When you see a man wearing an expensive suit and tie you instantly think of success and wealth.
But what about when you see him at the beach in a pair of shorts and a tee shirt? Those sort of clothes bring everyone down to the same level in my opinion.
Hi, Julie —
That’s a very good argument for not presenting in shorts and a t-shirt!
Yes, I really think that you will deliver a better speech if you dress up. Because if you wear a dress for instance, you will feel better, and if you feel better the results will be better.
I have learned to never trust a guy in a suit. But with that said, I always feel better when I wear a suit. Abel from http://www.xn--kvandalkjkken-jnb.no Have a nice autumn everybody! :-)