I believe we have all watched "Pretty Woman" and "The Devil Wears Prada".The change of clothes transformed Viviane from vulgar and ridiculous to elegant and sweet and Andy from shabby and silly to chic and smart. The way you look is exactly the way you will be perceived by others.Have you ever watched the serie "Raising the bar"? When the lawyer has long hair and wears an average suit he is perceived by the judge as an average lawyer, she considers him only a trouble maker, but when after a few episodes, he finally enters the court with a shorter classier hair cut and a tailored suit and a tie, not only the judge, but even ourselves watching the serie think he actually looks like a real and even a very tough lawyer...a winner!In Italy, particularly in Padova where there is the most important University of Law "Universita' degli Studi di Padova" , even if you are still only a student you are supposed to wear elegant when you attend the classes and especially when you take your exams. I heard of Professors not letting some students take their exam because they were not wearing elegant enough: they were invited to leave and come back next session and they were told that their look was offensive.Perhaps you will find this an exaggeration, but if you think well about it, you will understand that we all prefer to have in front of us -during an interview, an exam, a sales meeting...- someone who made an effort to look smart and presentable enough for the things he is talking about or trying to sell to us.
Most of the decisions we make are based on looks first! Before we even taste the food of a restaurant, we are attracted by the way the restaurant looks from the outside...same with a shop: that is why big stores like Selfridges and Harrods spend so much money on their "vetrine" and hire the best possible designers.Of course sometimes look can be deceiving, but most of the times it won't: usually we make an effort for the look when we know the clothes, the food or whatever product we want to sell is so great that it only needs to be seen "with a good light" in order to become successful.And it goes without saying that when we put extra effort and therefore extra money for the look of the thing we want to sell, it means we believe in it so much that we know that more than what we spent will come back to us, as soon as we have finally succeeded.A perfect example is the chic Trussardi store in Milan. The location right next to "La Scala" is just perfect: the store is inviting, it has a lovely bar and coffee area inside where you can drink, chat, catch up on some work on your laptop or even read the latest international Vogues and other fashion magazines, which you can borrow almost like in a library, plus there is a restaurant in a patio full of plants with comfortable big social tables or cozy small ones. The selections of drinks is just great and food is lovely. I had a cream and apple cake that was very good and very delicate at the same time.All this inside a fresh looking store, where handbags and shoes are just so elegant and classy, made with the best quality leather worked to perfection that you will feel absolutely invited to buy something and you almost won't notice the expensive price!
I believe now you can probably start seeing what message you are sending when you don't care about your personal look: you are simply saying that you don't believe in yourself, that you don't think you are worth it...and if you believe that about yourselves, why should other people think otherwise?
