Of course it does! We want to be appropriately and comfortably dressed so it isn’t distracting. How can you court your honey when your shirt collar is choking you? your waistband is too tight? How can you represent your client if
judge doesn’t allow women lawyers to appear in court in pants? How can you enjoy touring Turtle Farm on Barbados when it’s 95 degrees and you’ve got on polyester slacks? How can you work Trade Show when your feet are killing you?CLOTHING AS NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION Clothing can show:
· How much money you have · How you spend your money · Your values · How you take care of things · How organized you are · How creative you are · What profession or industry you're in · Whether you're a copy-cat or an original
ANALYZE THIS
It's easy to do -- clothing is all around us -- so spend some time analyzing. This is something you need to master.
It's been said "dress for position you next want," so take a look around your office. Where are lines drawn. How do you fit in?
Be mindful. Are you representing what you want to, and what you intend to? I’m thinking of mother at our children’s 8th grade outdoor morning graduation ceremony in spangles, cleavage, boa and dangly earrings. What look was she after, I wondered. She had achieved “appearing nightly” look.
FIND OUT WHAT’S APPROPRIATE
The emotionally intelligent person plans ahead. When planning to travel on business, call a coach in area you're going to.
Male lawyers in San Antonio, TX USA wear suspenders, while when my sister first started practicing law in D. C., judges did not permit women lawyers to wear pantsuits in court.
In San Antonio, TX there isn't much use for a coat rack. I had no idea when I got to Chicago Art Museum that I could check my coat and boots. There were lockers. How nice! But neither was I prepared for how hot they keep their buildings. People who come to San Antonio are never prepared for how icy we keep our buildings in summer.
DOES IT REALLY MATTER?
Of course it does, because you want to be able to concentrate on what's really important.
You'll probably have a sense of what areas of country are different, and in which areas dress matters more than in others.
I had no idea for instance what to wear for a professional trip to Seattle, Washington (USA). Don't laugh, but all I'd seen in photos was lumber jackets and jeans. Of course YOU are not your CLOTHES, but more comfortable I am, better I can do my job, and more I'll enjoy myself. As my friend who didn't listen to me and took her bright floral patterned dresses to D. C. found out, there are good ways to stand out, and there are bad ways to stand out. In room of 300 people all wearing solid colors, she might as well have had a bone in her nose. She found it hard to get it out of her mind. That can take edge off what you're about! FORGETTING
Where I live it is 98 for a good part of year, and then plummets all way to, oh maybe freezing once in a while. It is said to snow once every ten years, but it’s been longer than that since last it did. Therefore, I forget what “cold” means. I know cold, I went to college in Minnesota but I forget feel of it. When I arrived in Duluth, MN in February and it was 40 below – honest degrees, not windchill – I was appalled. When you check with that coach, don't settle for "it's cold up here" or "it could be 40 below," ask them "what's should I bring?" and, as I did before going to Russia, "please tell me what it feesl like when it's 70 degrees with 100 percent humidity and wind blowing at X mph."
