Dressing for Success (for men)

As mentioned in an earlier post, Image is Everything, today starts the first part of the series dealing with personal image in your career.

There are many books about creating first impressions and most of them will tell you that someone decides whether or not they like you within the first 2 minutes of meeting you.  So the key to success is to create an image that will impress within 2 minutes.  A huge part of this is physical appearance.  So how do you want to appear? Successful, playful, Joker, etc.

Think about the last time you saw someone wearing something kind of strange.  How fast did you think about what they were wearing from the time you first saw them?  Probably within seconds.  This is why dressing to a certain standard is an absolute must for success.  Thus the phrase, “Dressing for Success”.

Since how you dress is so important to creating success, it is often questioned what is appropriate dress for success.  The appropriate dress is what is the accepted in the business environment like it or not.

Every part of what you wear is crucial, so take each of these tips seriously or else it defeats the purpose of dressing for success.

BUSINESS DRESS

1. Shirts
1. With your arm fully extended, the cuff of your shirt should be right at the wrist.  A little longer is acceptable, but never shorter.
2. Iron out all wrinkles and iron existing creases (collar, back crease, arm crease) folds to enhance there intended affect.
3. Always wear an undershirt to prevent sweat mark on the dress shirt.
2. Tie
1. The imaginary line on the tie at which the tie starts to come to a point needs to be even with the top of your pants.  This needs to be perfect, because too short or too long looks awful.
2. The top of the tie should cover the neck button of your shirt or else the tie is not tight enough.
3. Use a tie which contrasts the shirts as a whole.  It is acceptable and sometimes preferred to have a tie with some of the same colors as the shirts to create a blending effect, but make sure the tie still contrasts the shirt.
3. Pants
1. Pants should always contrast the shirt (or tie if the shirt is white).  Never where the same color shirt and pants, it looks tacky.
2. Pant length should go just to the top of the shoe while standing.  No longer and definitely not shorter.
3. Iron all creases to enhance there intended affect.
4. Socks
1. Socks should match the color of the pants.  Never wear athletic socks with dress pants! 
5. Belt/Shoes
1. The belt should always match the color of the shoe.
2. A belt should have no more length than that which reaches to the first pant loop when belt is buckled.

 

How you dress has an everlasting affect on your pears and will in turn increase your credibility.  Just think about the nightly news, would the news anchors seem less credible if they wore a T-shirt and jeans?

So next time you have an interview or even a meeting with upper management remember these tips and know how much it makes a difference to look appropriate for the situation.

business dress, dress, dressing for success, image, success